Changing Worlds ::: T Version
by Ishty
Summary: An incident will change everything and nothing will be like it once was. TIVA
1. Someone's missing

**Disclaimer: Don´t own them. *sigh***

**Spoilers: hm.. this takes place somewhere in Season 6.. so yeah.. maybe spoiler (only names most likely).**

**Summary: An incident will change everything and nothing will be like it once was.. **

* * *

**(Monday – Bullpen – 08:20 am)**

It was like any other office day when a gray-haired figure sneaked into the Bullpen. Having used the elevator near the stairs, the man stopped at a safe distance to quietly observe his team as he took a sip from the ever present cup of coffee in his hand.

While McGee was busily typing on his computer, Tony played a game on his cell phone, feet propped up on his desk.

_"This never gets old,"_ thought Gibbs as he strode around the corner, slapping Tony on the head in the process, causing the younger agent to sit up straight again. Tony temporarily glanced at his boss, _"Busted! Again," _he cursed inwardly_,_ before he quickly started on the pile of cold cases lying on his desk.

"Where's David?" Gibbs gruffly asked.

"Ninja Chick slept in?" offered Tony, ignoring the urge to rub his now aching head. When he felt the piercing gaze of his boss, he quickly changed his answer however. "Don't know Boss, haven't seen her."

"Um Boss? Director Vance wanted to speak to you as soon as you came in," McGee replied, unsure what to make of Gibbs reaction to his teammate not being there, and Tony's failed attempt at humor.

Grumbling something about needing more coffee, Gibbs strode out of the Bullpen.

"Someone's grumpy today," mumbled Tony as he threw a glance at McGee, who was concentrating on his work again. _"Once McGeek always McGeek."_

* * *

Half an hour later the elevator dinged. _"Finally Ziva's here," _thought Tony and was about to make a teasing comment on her being late, when he spotted Gibbs coming out of the elevator.

He quickly hid his disappointment and averted his eyes back to the files on his desk, only to look up again a few seconds later to see his Boss standing between his and Ziva's desk.

"Still not here?" Tony commented as he saw his boss looking at Ziva's still empty desk. Earning himself another 'Gibbs-Slap'.

"Well, find her!" barked Gibbs while he turned to the stairs in order to see what the Director wanted from him.

* * *

**(Vance Office)**

Vance curtly nodded to Gibbs after the former came barging into his office, unannounced as usual.

''Agent Gibbs...'' started Vance.

''Don't have time Leon,'' Gibbs interrupted the Director impatiently.

''Today at 5:00 am, I received a message from the Embassy of Israel. Telling me that Officer David's liaison position was terminated effective immediately,'' Vance continued.

Momentarily stunned by this news, Gibbs eventually asked, "Do you know the reason for this?".

"I don't," Vance answered in frustration.

"Embassy... It didn't came directly from Israel?" Gibbs questioned further.

"No, I also can't seem to get through to Director David. I've been told that he's not available at the current time."

* * *

**(Back in the Bullpen)**

"SitRep!" Gibbs ordered, coming down the stairs.

"No answer on her cell or home phone," Tony reported.

"McGee trace her Cellphone! Now!" barked Gibbs while he strode straight to the elevator.

Sending a curious look at McGee, Tony was interrupted by Gibbs who was waiting impatiently for his senior field agent.

"DiNozzo!"

"On your six Boss!" Tony managed to reply, barely making it through the elevator doors before they shut.

* * *

**(Elevator)**

"What's going on Boss?" Tony asked as he stood next to Gibbs, waiting for the lift to arrive at its destination.

"We're going over to Ziva's," stated Gibbs matter-of-factly, while he tried to calm himself down.

"She's only a few minutes late Boss," Tony tried to argue, which caused Gibbs to spin around, glaring daggers at the younger agent.

"When was the last time she was late?!" Gibbs gruffly replied.

"You don't think she was framed again, do you?" asked a wide-eyed Tony, feeling panic rising up his chest.

"No, her position as Liaison was terminated earlier today," informed Gibbs his team member as he left the elevator in the direction of the parking-lot, leaving Tony standing in the elevator unable to move or think.

* * *

**(Ziva's Apartment – 10:40 am) **

After breaking most traffic laws and narrowly escaping some close calls, they finally pulled up at Ziva's apartment building.

"You didn't really think that you could pick a Mossad lock?" Gibbs asked as he got off the phone with McGee, having checked on the cell phone trace. Not bothering to hide his smirk, Gibbs looked at his senior field agent, who had been trying to unlock the door to Ziva's Apartment for the past few minutes.

"Oh…" realization dawned on Tony's face as he looked down at his lock picks.

Meanwhile Gibbs decided that they had wasted enough time and took out his spare keys to quickly unlock the door. "Let's try it this way."

Giving him a curious look, Tony was about to ask how Gibbs had gotten the key, when the sight he beheld forced him to stop dead in his tracks.

TBC...

* * *

_**A/N: It will get more interesting soon ! Hang on !**_

_**Review pls?**_


	2. Dead ?

_**Previously: **_

_Meanwhile Gibbs decided that they had wasted enough time and took out his spare keys to quickly unlock the door. "Let's try it this way."_

_Giving him a curious look, Tony was about to ask how Gibbs had gotten the key, when the sight he beheld forced him to stop dead in his tracks._

* * *

Drawing out their guns, Gibbs slowly pushed the door further open.

The view that presented itself to them, just from the sight of the hall and the living room just beyond, was frightening. The coat-rack, once standing beside the front door, now lay across the narrow hall and had torn a piece of wallpaper out of the opposite wall. Jackets which were normally hanging on the rack were scattered across the floor now.

The mirror, attached over the black and white dresser, was showing one enormous flaw, starting point a fist-round circle.  
But what scared the agents much more than the destroyed furniture was the amount of blood present. It distributed itself on the base of the mirror, over the dresser, down to the ground. Leaving traces not only on the bright parquet, but also on the clothes lying there.  
The pictures on the wall now hung askew, some of them had made it to the ground. Their glass fronts shattered into a hundred thousand pieces.  
And as if the blood at the mirror and ground would not be enough, you could see it also on the walls. What looked like hand prints at the beginning transformed into smeared strips that lead deeper into the apartment.

Exchanging concerned glances, Gibbs and Tony slowly made their way into the apartment. With shaking hands Tony stopped at the first door to the left, which held a small guest room. Gun ready, he slowly pushed it open to rush into the room moments later. Looking around and finding it and the adjoining bathroom empty and strangely untouched, he mouthed a "Clear!" to Gibbs, who was waiting outside the room, watching the rest of the apartment for any signs of an intruder still being there.

With Tony rejoining Gibbs in the hall, they slowly continued their way. Stopping again for Gibbs to open another door to the right, only to find out that it was a small closet.  
Nodding to Tony, they finally reached the main living area.  
Gibbs motioned for Tony to go right, past the knocked over dining table and the partially destroyed chairs, in order to look around the kitchen more closely as Gibbs walked along to the left, going slowly to the couch area. Both having their guns at the ready.

As Tony looked around the kitchen, he noted shards of broken dishes along with the now familiar drops of blood on the floor. He softly sighed and took one final look around but made the mistake of looking into one of the pots on the stove as well. "Ugh! Gross.. Abby would have a field day with those maggots," Tony exclaimed.  
Wondering what the hell had happened to make Ziva's apartment look like this and where his partner might be, he walked over to Gibbs, who knelt next to the broken coffee table, examining a sliced couch cushion.

As he got closer Tony noticed the sheets of paper lying under the pillow. While mostly written in a foreign language, which Tony thought must be Hebrew, he then saw a paper : "Notice of Cancellation of Apartment 132" sticking out.

"Boss?"

Catching the confused and worried eyes of his agent, Gibbs shook his head indicating that they would worry about the files later and nodded to the last two doors in the back of the room.

First going to the left, they found another bathroom. Though it didn't hold any sign of destruction, drops of blood were visible on the tiles.

"DiNozzo, watch the other door," Gibbs ordered, as the bathroom was connected to the other room, which they had yet to check out.

Bracing himself Gibbs pulled the door to the final room open. About to shout "NCIS Federal Agent" he stopped routed to the spot when he saw the unmoving lump on the bed.

"DiNozzo!"

**TBC...**

* * *

**A/N: Is this still rated T ? (laughs)**

**Thx for your reviews =) **

**Review again, pls? (otherwise my muse and I will get depressed =/)**


	3. Discovery

_**Previously:**_

_Bracing himself Gibbs pulled the door to the final room open. About to shout "NCIS Federal Agent" he stopped routed to the spot when he saw the unmoving lump on the bed._

"_DiNozzo!"_

* * *

Hearing his boss shout, Tony quickly made his way through the door.  
"Go call Ducky," Gibbs told him immediately.

"Is she..." Tony asked Gibbs, feeling insecure at the sight of his partner, who lay curled up on her stomach.

Her normally golden skin was pale and coated in sweat. Her eyes were red and sunken in, with dark shadows looming under them. The brown otherwise wavy hair was greasy and hanging down. Dried blood, mingled with fresh blood, covering the bed sheets in which she was tangled up.

Gibbs who was now sitting beside his co-worker, brushed aside a piece of hair that had fallen across her face.

"Alive? Yes she is," he replied, having checked her pulse and finding it slow but steady the moment Tony had hurled himself into the bedroom.

Gulping Tony took one last look at his friends still form before he left the room to call the older Medical Examiner.

"Ziver," Gibbs tried to gentle nudge her to consciousness while he rubbed her back as she slowly started to move.

* * *

**(Meanwhile NCIS Bullpen)**

"McGee!" A bouncing Goth called out loudly.

"Abs," McGee replied, more than preoccupied with his work.

"I'm bored!!"

"It's pretty quite at the moment, isn't it my dear?" Ducky stated, as he came around the corner, stopping next to the whiny Scientist.

"Ducky! No skeletons in the closet?" A cheeky Abby asked, stirring a small chuckle out of the resided M.E., "No my dear."

"Maybe we could go out to dinner then? I know this new café a few blocks away. It's awesome!" said Abby, excited at the prospect of doing something. "Timmy will surely join us," she added as she rattled on in the direction of McGee, who merely looked up for a moment before continuing to work.

"Of co..." Ducky was about to reply when he was interrupted by his ringing Cell phone.

"Please excuse me." Taking the call he went a few feet away, while Abby happily chatted with McGee, who only nodded from time to time not really listening to the Goth at all.

A few minutes later Ducky rejoined them with an unreadable face only to excuse himself once more before hurrying off to the back-elevator.

"What's going on?" Abby wanted to know, but getting no reply she called out, "McGee!" as she punched his arm, "Answer me!"

"Ouch! What Abs!?" asked an annoyed McGee, finally looking at her.

* * *

**(Back at Ziva's Apartment)**

"Ducky will be here in about 50 minutes," Tony reported to Gibbs, whilst the team-leader was still busy with Ziva, trying to persuade her to wake up.

Although she had managed to turn herself onto her back with the help of Gibbs and even managed to crack her eyes more or less open, she didn't seem to be very obvious to her surroundings yet.

"Gibbs?" she croaked after a while, earning smiles from both, her boss and her partner.

"Should I call for a team to secure the scene?" Tony asked, momentarily ignoring the sight of Ziva.

"This isn't a crime scene," stated Gibbs.

"But…"

"See the abrasion on her knuckles? She's the one that trashed her apartment like that."

"Why," Tony asked, more to himself than to older agent.

"We'll find out. But first a shower is in order," Gibbs said as he indicated to Ziva's unkempt hair and clammy body.

"Can you stand?" Gibbs asked the young woman in a caring voice.

After he saw her nod, he helped her to stand up, silently taking most of her weight as they made their way into the adjoining bathroom.

"Tony," he called out, "Get in here."

"Uhm... Why?"

"What do you think? Cause you'll help her."

"Boss..." Tony replied, still unsure what to do.

"It's not like you haven't seen each other like that before," Gibbs stated, becoming annoyed with his senior agent.

"Right," Tony replied as he kept standing near the shower.

"You planning to shower with your clothes on?" Gibbs pointed out to Tony, as he helped Ziva to undress, leaving only her underwear on.

"No..." not having a better answer Tony began to remove his clothes, only to have Gibbs raising his eyebrows, eyes going to Tony's boxer shorts.

"DiNozzo, remember the undercover mission you two took as married assassins? You gave the Director and me quite a sight on the MTAC screen. Not to mention, years before, when you slept naked in the hotel room and then jumped up screaming, waking the rest of us."

This caused a faint blush to appear on Tony's cheeks. "Thanks for the reminder." Sarcasm dripping off Tony's voice as he stepped into the shower.

Smirking, Gibbs directed Ziva to Tony.

"Why does she get to keep her underwear on?" Tony complained.

"DiNozzo," Gibbs growled, "You'll do it," pointing at Ziva, adding, "once I'm out of here," as an afterthought.

Once Gibbs had left them, Tony couldn't help muttering, "And why couldn't I wait for him to leave the room?" looking down at Ziva, who now was standing in his arms, leaning slightly on him.

"Cause I didn't want her to hit the floor," came the answer from outside of the room.

_'Bad eyes but excellent hearing,'_ thought Tony.

"Hey," he murmured as he concentrated on his female partner once more.

"You want to talk about it?" he asked, trying to catch her eyes. The only response he got was her leaning further into him, shaking her head.

"Alright," whispered Tony, starting to undress her completely, washing her hair and body in the process.

While at any other time he would surely find this situation very arousing, he knew that now wasn't the time for such a thing. There wasn't anything sexual about it. Just a friend who needed him, a friend he cared deeply about.

_'Maybe it's time to break Gibbs' Rule 12...'_ he thought to himself.

Meanwhile Ziva was lost in a world of her own as she relived the moment which changed everything.

* * *

**(Flashback Ziva's Apartment - Thursday 10:30 pm)**

Exhausted from the day, Officer David entered her apartment. After 3 weeks of hard investigations, they had to finally managed to arrest Jack Rogers, including his accomplices. Work around the clock and much too little sleep had left their traces on everyone in the team. This had also been noticed by Gibbs, their team leader, who had given his agents Friday and the following weekend off.

Now Ziva sat on her couch, a glass of red wine in hand as she simply enjoyed the calmness which had settled over her apartment.

She enjoyed the work with NCIS, however Tony's constant movie references and Gibbs' brusqueness had slowly gotten on her nerves. Not even spending time with Ducky, down in Autopsy, had really helped in the end. Although the tea and Ducky's stories had calmed her down, letting the world around her disappear for a short time. However these moments were mostly shattered by Gibbs, who typically came barging into Autopsy the moment she was there, or by the ringing of her cell phone, both situations demanding her attention.

She sighed as she slowly made her way into the kitchen. Having lived on fast food for the past couple of days, she now had a major craving for real food. Checking her cupboards she decided that a simple pasta dish would have to do for tonight. Tomorrow she would do some grocery shopping.

With the food nearly ready to be served, her musings were interrupted by the ringing of her doorbell. Switching the stove off, she made her way over to the front door.

_'Who could visit at this time of hour? Please do not_ _let it be Tony. I really like him.._ _okay actually I more than like him, but if I see him again today I might be forced to use my paper-clip skills one him!'_

Coming to a halt in front of her door, she spied through the peep hole, pulling the door open seconds after.

"Michael!" she exclaimed, surprise written all over her face.

"Shalom Ziva," he smiled kindly at the young woman in front of him.

"You going to let me in Zivaleh?" asked the gray-haired Mossad Officer when she showed no reaction of moving or talking.

Wordless she stepped aside. It wasn't every day that the chief of the Embassy visited her. In fact in the 4 years she was in Washington he had never done so. Sure, other Mossad Officers did so frequently, but he never did.

"Your new apartment is nice. Very homelike. I'm surprised," the officer said, not getting any reaction he continued, "I came to give you this." Holding a brown envelope up.

Finally coming out of her numbness, she shut the door and went over to him. Knitting her brows she threw a curious look at him.

"I was not supposed to give you this personally. Merely told to send the document by post. But you deserve more than that," he informed her.

With a growing pit in her stomach she hesitantly reached for the thick envelope.

"Let's sit down," the gray-haired officer offered.

Walking over to the couch, they both sat, as Ziva ripped the envelope open, scanning the pile of files it contained.

As her pulse sped up, she looked up at Officer Bashan, unable to speak.

* * *

**(Present – Ziva's Bathroom)**

"Tony? You two done?" Gibbs asked through the half open bathroom door.

"Give us a few more minutes," called Tony back.

"You got 5," came the gruff reply.

"Hear that Sweet Cheeks?" He asked in a caring voice, as he looked down at his quivering partner, who leeched herself only more firmly on to him, digging her face in his shoulder as she hide from his view. Causing him to sigh as he slowly continued to run his hand over her back, wondering what had caused her current state.

_'It must be really bad, losing her poise like this. Worse than the termination as liaison officer,'_ Tony mused, deep in thought.

By the time Gibbs re-entered the bathroom with two large towels in hand, neither of the two had really changed their positions, also Ziva seemed to have calmed down.

Spreading one of the towels out, Gibbs approached the shower, eyes fixed high above Ziva's head.

"Come on Ziver," he tried to persuade her, while Tony softly pulled her away from himself, directing her to Gibbs and the towel.

Finally having her in his reach, Gibbs wrapped the towel tightly around the frail form of Ziva David. Eyes focusing on her again.

"Let's get you dressed," he softly told her, giving the second towel Tony. He led her back into the bedroom, making her sit at the head of the bed.

While having changed the bedsheets and letting some fresh air into the room during his agents shower, he had yet to get out some fresh clothes for her.

Gibbs let out a short sigh as he put on some gloves and started to rummage through Ziva's drawers. Finding some underwear, a top which would have to do as bra, shorts and a sweatshirt he returned to the Israeli who quietly stared at the wall.

Trying to catch her gaze but failing to do so, he started to dress her with the top first, pulling her arms through the garment and putting the rest of it in place while he kept the towel firmly in place. Next he managed to pull her underwear and shorts in while keeping his eyes on her face.

Satisfied with his work he tugged on the towel, freeing it from under the top.

"Something you want to tell me about?" Gibbs asked the agent, who was standing near by watching, as he held the OHIO State shirt up for Tony to see.

"We had movie nights when you were retired. She was freezing, I loaned it to her one night. Guess she kept it."

Nodding, the gray-haired agent put the shirt onto Ziva, "All done," he whispered, kissing her forehead, which caused her to shut her eyes momentarily.

"Lie down, Ducky will be here shortly."

"Ah," Gibbs said, holding a hand up as she was about to protest, "Don't even try it. He'll check on you," kissing her cheek once she was back under the covers.

"Tony?" The raspy voice of Ziva was heard.

Giving his boss a look, Tony approached the bed. "Yes, Sweet Cheeks?"

"Stay?" Ziva whispered, causing Tony to settle himself beside her, "of course".

Gibbs was about to leave the room, seeing that Ziva had fallen asleep, and Tony would watch over her, as his senior field agent called him.

"Boss? Why did u wear gloves when this is no crime scene?"

"Ever met a woman who appreciates men going through her stuff?" Gibbs replied with a smirk, evoking a grin on Tony's face as the agent pulled his sleeping partner closer.

**(A few minutes later)**

"Gucci!" Ziva called out loud, suddenly sitting straight up in bed.

Tony being woken up from his semi state of sleep, asked sleepily, "You dreaming about fashion Sweet Cheeks?"

"I need to find him Tony!" Ziva said before she tried to stand up, dangerously swaying in the process.

"What's going on?" Gibbs came running into the room.

"I need to find him Gibbs!" Ziva repeated her earlier statement.

"Who?" the older agent asked, keeping a grip on Ziva so she wouldn't fall.

Ignoring them, she tried to make her way into the living room, but was stopped short by Gibbs.

"Who?" he asked again.

"I have not seen him since Bashan left. What if I have hurt him?" Ziva continued.

"Ziver!" Gibbs tried it anew.

"My cat! He was there when I came home but I do not think I have seen him since then," she exclaimed, panic clearly visible on her face.

This declaration caused two raised sets of eyebrows, before Gibbs remembered something. "Wait here," he told Ziva, as he went back into the living room after he had guided her back to bed.

A few minutes later, Gibbs returned, holding something in his arms what Tony didn't seem to recognize at first. Only when the agent dropped his load on the bed, Tony noticed what it was. A mainly black kitten with white paws, chest, under chest and some white on top of it's head.

Temporarily confused of it's new surroundings the cat soon found it's owner, purring contentedly, as it was enveloped in a hug by Ziva.

"He's fine, raided the 'snack bar'. Also now there's not much cat food left. And he avoided the mirror shards better than you," Gibbs told his female agent, as he pointed to the various cuts on her arms and legs.

"I need to make a few calls," he said, leaving the room again.

The sight of Ziva hugging her cat next to him caused Tony to chuckle, "Never thought of you as a cat person. And certainly not that you would call a cat Gucci of all names."

Smiling softly she explained, "I found him in Morocco when I was working undercover those months back under Mossad direction."

"It was extremely late that night when I came out of the nightclub. I heard a strange noise coming from under a dumpster. It was a very quiet noise but it also sounded very tormented. When I followed it, I saw him, cowering, fearful, alone and half dead. I could not leave him there," She told Tony, gently stroking Gucci's black and white fur, extracting an even louder purr from the tomcat.

"I took him home, fed him. Made sure he was safe." Tony nodded, scratching the cat behind it's ears.

"So why Gucci?" Tony asked smiling at his partner and her open declarations.

"The first night, after I fed him, he became more alive. He started to look around the small one-bedroom apartment and managed to open some drawers," she remembered, knitting her brows together.

"Seriously? He can open drawers? Underwear drawers too? Way to go Boy!" Tony praised the cat, patting Gucci's head a bit.

"Tony..." Ziva half growled/laughed.

Grinning even more at his partners sudden lively and happy mood, which resembled more of the old Ziva than the one he found earlier today, Tony asked further, "So what happened next?"

"Gucci found Gucci."

Seeing the confused look on Tony's face, she gesticulated wildly, "He found a sweater from Gucci… actually fell asleep after he nestled himself down in it."

"So you called him Gucci," Tony concluded as Ziva nodded in reply.

"Cat has good taste. In clothes and girls," said the agent, giving her a wide smile, "Come on, you should rest a bit before Ducky comes."

Not really giving her time to reply on his comment, Tony tugged her and the cat in, lying next to them until Ziva was fast asleep, before he got up to join his Boss in the living room.

**TBC...**

* * *

**A/N: YES I know.. Ziva might seems to be a bit AU to you, but bear in mind she has feelings too^^ and you have yet to find out the reason for her behavior, so hang on. ;o)**

**AND I'll just pretend that it was the technical glitch which kept the review count at ZERO for the last chapter -.-' (My muse is crying..)  
**


	4. Entry: Ducky

_**Previously:**_

"_Cat has good taste. In clothes and girls," Tony said, giving her a wide smile, "Come on, you should rest a bit before Ducky comes." _

_Not really giving her time to reply on his comment, Tony tugged her and the cat in, lying next to them until Ziva was fast asleep, before he got up to join his Boss in the living room._

* * *

_  
_As Tony stepped into the living room, he saw his boss on the telephone. So he took the time to have another closer look-around.

Obviously Gibbs had begun to clean up the chaos a bit. Close to the kitchen he could see that not only the chairs but also the heavy dinning table were upright again.

"_How did Gibbs managed this by himself,"_ thought Tony as he regarded the table, before letting his eyes rest on the pile of papers, which had been lying in the living room not long ago.

Then he felt Gibbs' eyes on him. Still busy on the phone, Gibbs pointed a bucket, hand-brush and dustpan out to Tony, indicating to the hall.

Taking the hint, Tony took the cleaning equipment and started to sweep up the various shards of glass lying on the floor.

A short time after he was joined by Gibbs, who was armed with a blue garbage bag. Tony threw him a confused look, since he had a bucket for the pieces of broken glass.

"For the clothes," stated Gibbs as he pointed to the articles of clothing covered in blood. "Later Ziva can decide whether they should be cleaned or thrown away," Gibbs said, answering the unasked question of his agent.

"Got any new information, DiNozzo?" questioned Gibbs a few seconds later.

"Not really, we mainly spoke about that cat of hers," Tony said, sounding somewhat dejected.

"At least she's talking again," added Tony, sighing as his mind wandered off again, wondering what exactly has happened here and why.

"It is again and again amazing what animals can do to people, isn't it?" the Scottish voice of their M.E. sounded from right in front of them.

"Ducky!" a temporarily spooked Tony squeaked.

"Please excuse me, the door was ajar."

"No problem Duck," answered Gibbs, as he stood up from his kneeling position. Clothes shoved into the bag.

"Where is she?" Ducky questioned, his gaze going over the accrued chaos.

"Come on, I'll show you the way," directed Gibbs, showing Ducky the way from the hall to the bedroom.

"You know this reminds me of the crime scene back in.." Ducky started to tell one of his famous stories.

"Duck," Gibbs cut Ducky off in the typical 'could we concentrate on the corpse' tone.

"By using that tone of voice the only thing missing is you asking me for a T.O.D.," chuckled the older Medical Examiner.

Gibbs only stared at him, before he cautiously opened the door to the bedroom.

* * *

"Oh my.. " escaped from Ducky's mouth, seeing the still very pale Ziva as he hurried over to the bed, "Ziva my dear."

"Ducky?" came Ziva's sleepy answer as she slowly sat up.

"Hello, what have you done to yourself?" asked Ducky, in a slightly scolding voice, causing a small smile to display on Ziva's face.

"Let me examine you," said the M.E. as he put his doctor's bag next to Ziva on the bed.

"Her knuckles Duck," Gibbs chipped in, earning himself a stormy glare from the young Israeli as Ducky laid his hand on her forehead to check for fever.

"Well you surely have quite a fever," diagnosed Ducky, taking a thermometer out of his bag in order to give it to Ziva.

"I am fine," Ziva tried to reassure them, taking the thermometer out of her mouth, only to have Gibbs coming up next to her on her other side in order to put it back into her mouth again.

"Stop being so difficult, David," ordered Gibbs.

"I am just a bit tired!" Ziva retried but fell silent as soon as Gibbs fixed her with a glare.

"Oh this doesn't look too good," said Ducky as he turned towards Ziva's knuckles. After checking the mobility of her hands

"Well, there doesn't seem to be any nerve damage, also your right hand seems to be sprained, maybe even broken. An X-ray will give us the answer to that. As for your knuckles, they are only grazed and have already started to heal," Ducky said addressing Ziva, who didn't show any emotion though.

"Hit a wall?" Gibbs asked his female agent, sounding more assessing. Ziva only nodded.

"As regards to the left hand.. cuts on and around the knuckles."

"Mirror," deadpanned Gibbs, causing Ziva to nod again.

* * *

**(Flashback – Ziva's Apartment – Thursday 11:06 pm)**

After Officer Bashan rose and went to the door, Ziva stayed sat on her couch. She stared into space, unable to process what had happened in the past few minutes.

Suddenly she jumped up and ran as fast as possible to the front door. However it was already firmly locked. How long had Michael been gone Ziva could only suspect.

Standing close to the door, her rapid and deep breathing was the only sound to be heard.

"_What just happened?", "Did this really happen?"_ These, and other thoughts were running through her mind. Past moments appearing surreal.

She span around abruptly. Grabbing the coat rack next to her she hurled it to the ground.

Momentarily rigid, she looked at the now torn wallpaper on the left wall. "_Harah!" _Ziva thought. Furious with herself, or maybe just with the situation into which she had been thrown; she didn't know. Ziva stepped over the coat rack to regard herself in the mirror over the dresser.

"_What am I supposed to do? Who am I now?" _she thought about her situation, desperation started to rise up in her the longer she stared at herself.

Minutes went past, before suddenly she hit the mirror with full force. Not registering the pain from her now bleeding hand, desperation was slowly replaced by anger.

What she was angry at, she couldn't tell for sure as she made her way through her apartment, leaving a trail of destruction in her wake.

Her gaze came to rest on the brown envelope. Taking her knife out of its holster, which was still attached to her waist, she was about to tear apart the documents when she drove the knife into a sofa cushion, slicing it open.

Staring at her 'victim' all her energy seemed to leave her. Physically and emotionally exhausted she went to her bedroom, crawling into her bed, trying to shut the world out from around her. That's how she stayed for days, only getting up to use the bathroom. Thoughts about food or drink not even crossing her mind.

* * *

**(Present – Ziva's Bedroom)**

"Well.. these cuts seem to reopen every time you move your hand, my dear. I'm afraid they need to be stitched," diagnosed Ducky as he examined Ziva's left hand.

"Can you do it, Duck?" Gibbs asked for Ziva, who frowned at Ducky's words.

"I'm afraid not. It's very fragile work. A specialist should do this to avoid unnecessary scars," replied the older M.E. as he smiled at Ziva.

"Seems like you got yourself a trip to the hospital," said Gibbs, raising a protest in Ziva anew.

"I do not need to go to the hospital. Ducky! Gibbs!" the Israeli tried to persuade both men, without even the smallest success.

* * *

In the meantime Tony had started to pile the destroyed furniture in a corner of the living room. Listening with one ear he heard the protests of his partner, which sounded even whinier as more time went by.

Tony tried to refrain from laughing too loud as he placed the books that were lying around back onto the shelves.

When Ducky reemerged in the living room, he was immediately greeted by Tony, who didn't dare go into the bedroom. Fearing Gibbs' slaps if he did so.

"How is she?" an apprehensive Tony asked.

"Well, apart from a low blood pressure and low blood sugar as well as dehydration, her left hand needs stitches and her right hand needs X-rays, as do her feet to make sure that no shards have entered through the cuts.  
She also runs a fever of 102.2°F," reported Ducky, causing Tony to gulp.

"Don't worry Anthony. Her fever is a result of the dehydration, mixed with the untreated cuts. It will drop once she gets some water and antibiotics."

Finally Gibbs also came into the living room, collecting the papers from the dining table he came to stand next to the M.E.

"Duck, can you take this with you?" the gray-haired agent asked, holding the envelope up.

"Sure Jethro."

"Give it to Vance. I already called him, notifying him of the documents," Gibbs explained further as he led Ducky to the front door.

"Toothpick?" Tony asked in a stunned voice once Ducky had left.

"Yes," came the curt reply from Gibbs.

"Why aren't you giving them Jardine? Why must it be Vance?" an aggravated Tony tried to worm an answer out of the older agent.

"Something is going on here. Something not everyone should know about yet. Vance couldn't get through to the Director of Mossad earlier. And it has something to do with those documents," Gibbs replied.

"Your gut Boss?" the younger agent asked, but was met with silence as Gibbs made his way back into Ziva's bedroom.

"Of course your gut..." mumbled Tony.

* * *

**(Ziva's Bedroom)**

"You ready?" Gibbs asked the young Israeli, who stood in front of some suitcases having finished packing them moments before, now glaring daggers at the older men in front of her.

"The drugs that Ducky gave you seem to be working," concluded the gray-haired agent, referring to her stubborn posture.

Still somewhat huffy, Ziva picked Gucci up from the end of the bed, where he had been sleeping curled up, and left the bedroom, followed by Gibbs who took care of the suitcases.

* * *

"Drop us off at the hospital, DiNozzo," Gibbs ordered, as the three of them made their way out of the apartment, smirking to himself as Ziva's glare got even darker.

"I'm allowed to drive?" Tony said, not trusting his own ears. "_He doesn't want to drive?_" thought Tony, but then saw his boss' stare, "Nevermind."

_**TBC...**_

* * *

_**A/N: I'm sorry but this chapter needed to be the way it is.. not much talking more explaining *sigh*  
Next Chapter will answer some questions and stop being so narrative (at least I hope so).**_

_**102.2°F = 39.6°C ____ 'Harah' = sh*t (couldn't find a better curse, sry)**_

* * *

_**Pls review?**__** *also thx for all the reviews, alerts and IMs I got =)***_


	5. Getting Answers I

_**Previously:**_

"_Drop us off at the hospital, DiNozzo." Gibbs ordered, as the three of them made their way out of the apartment, smirking to himself as Ziva's glare got even darker._

"_I'm allowed to drive?" Tony said, not trusting his own ears. "He doesn't want to drive?" thought Tony, but then saw his boss' stare "Nevermind"._

* * *

**(NCIS Headquarter - 12:30 am)**

After having dropped Gibbs and Ziva off at the hospital, Tony had run some errands, before finally driving back to NCIS headquarter.

"_Maybe Toothpick has told Ducky something about the documents. I hope Abby doesn't know anything yet,"_ Tony mused as he stepped out of the NCIS elevator.

"Probie!" He came to a stop in front of the other agents desk.

"What!?" McGee replied, annoyed to be interrupted once again.

"Have you seen Ducky or Abby?" Tony asked but got no reply.

"McWork!" He shouted.

"Ducky went away after he got a phone call, Abby lounged around but then went off too, most likely to her lab."

"_This is how many times they've interrupted me today? 3,4 times? Argh..."_ thought McGee.

"What are you concentrating so hard on?" the senior field agent wanted to know.

"Work," McGee replied, acting very short with Tony.

"Ya, right."

"Tony, leave me alone!" snapped McGee as Tony, who wasn't impressed at all, rounded the other agents desk, looking over McGee's shoulder. Just in the moment as Tim clicked something on his computer, switching views.

"What are you hiding McSecret?"

"I'm not hiding anything."

"Oh I think you are," Tony said, reaching for the mouse.

"Tony," warned McGee as he took his mouse to keep it out off Tony's reach.

Finally Tony won the battle over the computer mouse. "Yes!" Celebrating his triumph he put the mouse on one of the drawers behind McGee's desk and switched the screens.

"I knew it!" Tony screamed, seconds before McGee got his senses back and shut the monitor off.

"Tony, keep it quiet," hushed the other agent since curious agents were already looking over the cubicle walls at them.

"When were you going to tell us you're writing a new book?"

"Thinking about it.. After I'm dead," muttered McGee.

"Haha, McWriter."

"Seriously, every time I write something you make fun off me. So why should I tell you?" McGee demanded.

"Well Timothy, someone would say that this is what brothers do," Ducky said.

"Hi," greeted Tony cheerfully, while McGee looked deep in thought.

"Ducky, could I speak to you for a minute?" he asked the M.E., shooting McGee a look and seeing him smiling. "_One problem less to worry about,"_ thought Tony.

* * *

"What is it Anthony?" the older man asked once they reached the back-elevator.

"I was wondering if Vance let anything slip about the envelope?"

"No, the director was in MTAC, so I gave the envelope to Cynthia."

"Oh," Tony face was showing disappointment at the news.

"You worry," observed Ducky. Seeing Tony nod he tried to reassure the agent in front of him.

"Ziva will be ok. While she's not her normal healthy self at the moment, it's nothing permanent. Don't worry too much."

"It's not her health I'm worried about," Tony muttered, causing Ducky to go on.

"Just be there for her. But don't corner her. She'll come out of her shell in her own time."

"Cornering an assassin? Not planning to do so..." giving Ducky a shaky smile before he inquired after it. "You sure everything will be ok?"

"Everything will turn out good," Ducky reassured again, "Jethro won't let anything happen," patting Tony's shoulder before stepping off the elevator to go back to autopsy.

"I hope you're right," Tony said to himself, making his way to Abby's lab.

* * *

**(Hospital - 12:00 am)**

Upon arriving at the hospital Gibbs led his female agent over to the reception.

"Hello," Gibbs said as he gave the nurse a fake smile.

Looking over behind Gibbs at Ziva, the nurse pulled out some forms and handed them over, "Please fill this out and then come back."

"Come on, David," Gibbs said as he turned around, about to walk over to the rows of chairs.

"David? As in Officer David?" Another nurse asked from behind the reception, seeing Gibbs' raised eyebrow, she continued: "Then you must be Agent Gibbs. Your Director called."

"And what exactly did he want?" Gibbs demanded to know. Sounding annoyed that the director took it upon himself to intervene with his way of doing things.

Somewhat stunned at the annoyance swinging in the agent's voice she replied, "Your agency will take over the cost. You only need to fill out the first sheet," giving the agents her best smile.

Deciding not to ask further Gibbs took a seat, "Got an idea why the director would do so?"

Getting no reaction from the person beside him he decided to be harsher for a minute.

"Hey!" This snapped Ziva out of her trance, also her confused expression told the gray-haired agent that he wouldn't get an answer, so he returned to filling out the forms for her.

* * *

**(Abby's Lab - 12:50 am)**

"Hey Abby!"

"Tony!"

"Abby!" mimicking her cheery tone.

"Where have you been?" Abby wanted to know.

"Out."

"You got a new case?" Delight written all over her face. "Where's my evidence?!" She scolded the agent.

"New case? We don't have one," answered a confused Tony.

"But where have you been? I was upstairs and you weren't there. Tim was obvious to it. Then Ducky hurries off. I waited but none of you came. Not even Gibbs is gone that long for coffee. He wasn't upstairs either. I checked with Cynthia and then..." rambled Abby.

Tony put his hands on her shoulders, interrupting her, "Abby, breathe!"

Once she calmed down somewhat. "I didn't even get my Caf Pow yet," pouted Abby.

"I'll bring you one," Tony hastily said, seeing a way out of his misery of answering Abby's questions.

Nearly out of danger, Tony stood in the elevator as Abby came running out of her lab. "Hey, you still haven't answered my question!" just as the elevator doors closed. Leaving Tony in peace.

* * *

**(Hospital - 02:05 pm)**

"Alright," said Ziva's attending physician, after having done some tests and X-rays.

"The X-rays are showing no glass shards. Which is good. Not as good as your right hand. While there are no bones fractured, your hand is badly sprained and your metacarpal is slightly cracked," he told Ziva as he pointed at the crack showing on one of the X-rays which he had hung up.

"A nurse will apply a splint on your hand in a few minutes," he continued, giving Ziva a small smile.

"It will have to stay on for about 2 weeks. We'll rescan your hand then. If the crack is healed we can remove the splint."

"Don't try to use your hand without it!" The doctor warned her. "She won't," stated Gibbs matter-of-factly. Having joined them in the treatment room a few moments ago after getting himself a fresh cup of coffee.

"The stitches I applied on your left hand can come out in 7 days," the doctor continued, causing Ziva to roll her eyes.

"_This is unnecessary. I want to get out of here," _she thought.

"You won't leave till they're done with you David," whispered Gibbs into the ear of his female agent as he stood next to the bed on which she was sitting.

"_I know what you think," _smirked Gibbs to himself while Ziva's mind was questioning the comment, "_How does he do this?"_

Meanwhile the doctor continued to explain his findings, completely unaware of the interactions between the other two people in the room.

"The cuts on your feet, legs and arms are already healing and show no signs of infection." Smiling while he said so.

"I'll subscribe you some antibiotics for your right hand as well as painkillers and also some vitamins which will help you recover from not having eaten or drunk for some days."

Ziva was about to roll her eyes again at this comment, when she saw Gibbs starring at her. Averting her eyes to her hands, which lay in her lap, she reflected on the past few days, "_I just felt like not __eating anything after what had happened..."_

"The I.V. will be through in 20 minutes. Then you are free to leave," the doctor told his patient and Gibbs, just as a nurse came into the room. Looking at Gibbs the doctor continued, "Please make sure she eats and drinks regularly. Don't let her sleep too long, it could be counter productive. The I.V. already helped her to recover some of her strength and her fever went down notable too, but this can easily change if she doesn't take care of herself."

Turning to Ziva, "I hope you'll get better soon and I won't see you again this week," he said as he bid his farewell. Leaving the two alone with the nurse who had started to apply a splint on Ziva's hand.

Gibbs was staring at the Israeli, "_What happened to you Ziver,"_ while she continued to look at her left hand, not bothering to look up at the agent or the nurse.

* * *

**(Vance Office 02:30 pm)**

After Gibbs had summoned Tony back to the hospital in order to pick them up, he was now on the way to Director Vance's office, Ziva in tow.

Ignoring Cynthia's attempts to stop him from going into the office unannounced, he opened the door. Holding it for Ziva before shutting it behind them, however, not before giving Cynthia a small smile.

"Agent Gibbs, Ziva. Please take a seat," Vance greeted them.

"Have you told Agent Gibbs yet?" he asked Ziva, who in return shook her head.

"Alright," Vance started to say, "Besides the cancellation paper and the papers surrounding the termination as liaison officer there are also some others.."

"Oh really.. " Gibbs interrupted him sarcastically.

"As I said, there are others," the director continued unperturbed, "One set of papers relieving her of duty as Mossad officer." Vance paused, giving Gibbs the time to absorb this new information as the eyes of the gray-haired agent darted to the female Israeli sitting across from him.

"Furthermore there are ..."

**TBC...**

* * *

**A/N: Hm.. Chapter 4 seems not review-worthy enough =/ Neither rated T or M... *must have done something wrong^^***

**ANYWAY, enjoy =) **

** Next chapters will be much longer; 3,000 words +**

**

* * *

**

**Someone asked me how I came up with the cat.  
-- visit icanhascheezeburger com and search for a picture called 'pocket protector' **(there's also one called 'ok as long as u hold mah hand')


	6. Getting Answers II

_**Previously:**_

"_As I said, there are others," the director continued unperturbed, "One set of papers relieving her of duty as Mossad officer." Vance paused, giving Gibbs the time to absorb this new information as the eyes of the gray-haired agent darted to the female Israeli sitting across from him._

"_Furthermore there are ..."_

* * *

"... documents banishing her from going back to Israel, including visits and even contacting any persons there or persons belonging to Mossad."

Gibbs looked confused, "Exile? Why would her father.."

"He's .. dead," whispered Ziva as she interrupted Gibbs. Not needing to raise her eyes from the table to know that her former boss was staring at her. "_former... I will really miss them," _She thought sadly.

"Those documents also hold a more or less detailed report of a successful assassination attempt on the Director of Mossad, his Deputy and some Officers belonging to the 'inner circle'," reported Vance further, taking a breath, "The fact that they sent Ziva a report, leaves the assumption that they don't want her to ask any further questions."

"Since Eli was anticipating an attempt on his life for a few months," he told them, raising his voice as he saw that Gibbs was about to interrupt him again.

Frustrated, Gibbs stood up. "This is a mess," he exclaimed as his eyes focused on Ziva again, who still had her eyes fixed on the table in front of her. "_No wonder you act like this,"_ Gibbs thought.

"Ziva," The Director turned to her, "Your father feared an attempt on your life too. Therefore a contract was set up a few months ago. Making sure that you were protected by it."

"What kind of contract Leon?" Gibbs demanded, his eyes momentarily leaving Ziva to look at the director.

"One that makes sure that Ziva is under NCIS jurisdiction. So no one would attempt anything," Vance told them, not noticing Ziva flinch at his words.

"And I don't plan to change this," the director added as he went to his desk, coming back with Ziva's former SIG and NCIS Badges along with a folder, putting it all on the table in front of her.

"You just need to sign these documents and you'll be a full NCIS Agent," Vance told her.

"I.." Ziva tried to respond. Gesticulating with her hands, "need.. fresh air," she pressed through gritted teeth, fighting hard to keep her emotions under control.

"Ziva," Vance called out to her as she made her way to the door, "For what it's worth, I'm sorry for your loss. Please consider the offer. You got a place here." Giving her an encouraging smile as she nodded over her shoulder and left.

Vance turned to Gibbs, who was still standing near the table. However, before Vance got the chance to speak again, Gibbs beat him to it, "Her work visa was bounded to her liaison position. How... "

"She got US Citizenship when she married an American Air Force Officer in 2000," Vance cut the other agent off. This time Gibbs couldn't hide his shocked expression. "_She never told me anything about this."_

"As far as I know he died in a car accident soon after," Vance offered, seeing Gibbs' expression.

"How do you know this?" Gibbs asked as he picked up one of the badges from the table.

"Her father. We had a good connection and like I said before, he asked me to make sure she stayed alive," the director stated, observing the agent.

"I already have someone starting on the paperwork. The US Citizenship was never mentioned in official papers. So different papers needs to be changed now: ID, driver's license, passport, Social Security number and all other things."

"Lot of work, another friend of yours?" Gibbs huffed. "_I wonder how far Vance's connections really go..."_

"Yes," Vance curtly replied, "Only problem we have at the moment is the proof of current residency, since her rental agreement is expired."

"No problem there, she's staying with me," Gibbs stated.

"Good, I'll pass your address to the relevant person."

"How long?" Gibbs asked, now standing near the door. The folder, badges and SIG in hand, ready to leave.

"Changing those documents? End of this week," Vance replied. Halfway through the door, Gibbs just nodded.

"Your team is off the roster this week," Vance said just as Gibbs closed the door from outside, not acknowledging to have heard Vance's words.

* * *

**(Meanwhile NCIS Headquarter after Ziva left Vance's Office – 03:50 pm)**

After having come back from Abby's lab and ordering McGee to bring Abby her desired Caf-POW, Tony had unsuccessfully tried to get some work done, before he went back to playing with his mobile phone.

Only to have a worrying uneasiness creep upon him once again, so he started pacing around between the team's desks, consistently shooting looks upstairs.

Then he saw her, her face completely blank as she came down the stairs, wearing her 'Mossad-mask' as he liked to call it.

"_Where's she going to..."_ Tony wondered as he quietly started to follow her. Lost in thought for a short time he snapped back to reality, finding Ziva gone from his view.

"_Damn..._ _okay think.. People are still waiting for the elevator, so she didn't use it. Restrooms are too far away... The_ _stairs!"_

Slightly changing direction he cautiously opened the door leading to the stairs. As he stepped into the dim lit area he stopped to listen. "_Up or down..."_ Tony mused.

Upon hearing a noise coming from downstairs he silently walked to it. Looking around, it didn't take him long to find his partner, sitting two flights of stairs down on the wall. Sighing he sat down next to her, knees slightly touching as he studied her for a moment. "_She looks like she has been crying."_

"Hey," he gently said, causing her to jump.

"Tony you scared me deadly," muttered Ziva as she whipped her face with the sleeve of her shirt.

"Scared to death, Sweet Cheeks," Tony corrected her, pausing he slightly grinned, "I sneaked up on you." He didn't receive any reaction.

After a while Ziva quietly asked him, "Have you ever felt alone even though there were lots of people around you," her voice only a whisper.

"Yea, I guess I have," he answered, "Why do you ask?"

"No reason."

"No, there is something," probed Tony.

Looking at him briefly she stayed silent. "Alright..." Tony said, "You don't have to tell me."

"_yet," _he added in thought as he put his arm around her shoulders, drawing her close to him.

* * *

When Gibbs came out of Director Vance's office he stopped briefly at the top of the stairs to look down at the area where his team normally sat. He frowned as he saw it completely deserted of said agents.

Feeling the items in his hands, he was reminded of the last few minutes as he went downstairs in order to put them on his desk.

"You looking for your agents Gibbs?" asked Agent Spencer over the cubicle walls, which divided his and Gibbs Team.

"Yea."

"McGee finally took a break. That guy didn't even stop working when the others came and bugged him," Spencer reported.

"You spying on my team Ralph?" Gibbs asked, only half serious.

"Nah, just a dull day with no cases."

"DiNozzo and David?"

"DiNozzo followed Ziva towards the staircase. What's up with her? Doesn't seem to be herself today," Spencer said.

"Not now," replied Gibbs as he strode towards the stairs.

* * *

Having entered the staircase Gibbs heard shuffling from downstairs. As he followed the sound he found his agents sitting next to each other.

"Hey Boss," Tony greeted him.

"Tony, find McGee, tell him we got the week off," the older agent promptly said.

Reluctantly Tony stood up and made his way upstairs after he had squeezed Ziva's shoulder one last time.

"Come on," Gibbs said as he pulled Ziva up and led her to the next floor. Going straight for the elevator.

* * *

Once having made it inside said elevator it didn't take him long to switch it's power off.

Inside, Ziva only stood there, not looking at Gibbs, while he studied her. Eventually making the decision to just engulf the young woman into one of his hugs.

But instead of relaxing into the hug, like she did after coming back to DC after those 4 months of separation, she remained stiff and unresponsive.

"You know, you don't always have to be the strong one," said Gibbs into her ear. Trying to break through her defensive walls.

"I just don't want to be difficult," muttered Ziva into his shoulder after what seemed like an endless time.

This got Gibbs. Pulling her slightly away from him, he looked at her, "Ziver, where did u get that from?" appalled at her answer.

"You," she said, still not meeting his eyes.

"Ziver," realization dawned on him. Lifting her chin with his finger so that she was forced to look at him, he continued, "I was frustrated with the situation itself," hugging her to him again, "I didn't mean it that way."

"You are allowed to show emotion," he continued, slightly rocking her while she slowly began to relax.

"Emotions are a sign of weakness," she said after a while.

"No. Apologizing is a sign of weakness," Gibbs reminded her.

"I was taught otherwise," replied Ziva, her voice choked up.

"Sometimes you need to forget what you are taught in order to learn something new," Gibbs sternly said as he drew soothing circles on her back.

After a few minutes of comfortable silence Ziva had managed to regain her composure.

"I..." She started but was cut off by Gibbs, "You don't have to say anything till you are ready to do so."

"Todah," Ziva replied, grateful not to have to talk about the current events yet.

"Let's get Tony and then go home," Gibbs stated, which earned him a curious look.

* * *

Finding Tony wasn't difficult since he was once again in the Bullpen. This time packing his bag, albeit very slowly.

"McGee gone?" Gibbs asked.

"Yes," answered the senior field agent.

"Good, pick up something to eat, pack your bag and then meet us at my house," the gray-haired agent said as he and Ziva headed off to the elevator.

"_Huh?"_ Tony thought in surprise before he hurriedly took off. His mood brightened at the prospect of being able to spend some time with his female partner.

* * *

**(Gibbs' House – 05:20 pm)**

When Tony arrived at his boss' house he found Ziva sitting on the couch in the living room, Gucci on her lap.

"I got us some movies," He cheerfully said as he waved the bag containing the DVDs in front of her.

"Of course you did," She stated, giving him a look that told him that she hadn't thought any different of him.

"Where's Gibbs?" Tony asked after having placed the bag near the TV.

"Kitchen," grimaced Ziva, already anticipating what the gray haired agent was up to.

Confused Tony went over to Gibbs, "I thought I should get food, Boss."

"Food's for us, this," pointing at some goo in front of him, "is for Ziva," smirked Gibbs.

"Yuk," was Tony's only reply.

"Smile," growled Gibbs to Tony as he went with the 'goo' plus straw over to Ziva.

"Here," he said, handing the glass over to the young female.

"Gibbs..." she started to protest but was cut off by Gibbs.

"Doctor's order. Everything else would upset your stomach. And you don't want to spend the night in the bathroom, would you?" sending the young woman a glare.

"Fine," huffed Ziva, accepting the glass with disgust.

Meanwhile Tony had busied himself with connecting Gibbs' DVD player and setting the first movie up. Once done he tried hard not to laugh as he saw that Ziva's cat had abandoned her for Gibbs.

"Forgot to feed the cat, DiNozzo?" The older agent asked as he tried to hold his food away from the intrusive tomcat.  
Blinking twice Tony took the cat from Gibbs and hurried off to the kitchen, "On it boss!"

"Don't think you're getting off easily. After you're done we're gonna put the ointment on your cuts," Gibbs smugly told Ziva, effectively erasing the smirk off her face. Which caused Gibbs to smirk even more smugly in return, "_I still got it."_

* * *

**( Gibbs' House - Later during the night – 09:50 pm)**

Sometime during the latest movie Ziva ended up in Tony's arms. Tony only registered this fully when the credits started to roll. "_Oh no, Gibbs!"_ screamed Tony inwardly.

Looking at the arm chair in which Gibbs was sitting, Tony found him looking at them.

"Ehm... Boss..." he started.

"Forget it," Gibbs said, standing up to fetch a glass of water along with Ziva's medicine.

"La Bonita, wake up," the senior field agent nudged his sleeping companion awake, causing her to blink multiple times as Gibbs came back into the living room.

"Here," The older agent said, as he handed the water and medicine over.

"Why don't you go to bed," offered Gibbs afterwards, seeing that Ziva was nearly falling asleep again.

Nodding Ziva mumbled a short "Laila tov" before she slowly went upstairs to sleep.

* * *

With Ziva asleep Tony saw his opportunity to finally voice what had been bothering him since earlier that day.

"Boss? Do you know what's going on?"

Sighing, his boss stood up and left for the kitchen. Momentarily leaving the senior agent alone with his unanswered questions and thoughts running through his head.

"_Why won't he tell me,"_ mused Tony angrily, when Gibbs reappeared in his view, placing Bourbon and two glasses on the table.

"Mossad is under new administration," reported Gibbs as he filled the Bourbon into the glasses and handing Tony one of them.

"A new administration which doesn't want Ziva being part of Mossad," he continued.

"I don't..." stuttered Tony, mulling the new information over, while Gibbs sipped from his own glass.

"They're not going to send someone after her are they?" Tony finally asked, fearing for his partner's life.

"No, they just relieved her of duty," Gibbs shook his head, not thinking of mentioning the exile yet.

"Why... her father... Does that mean she's leaving us?" Tony asked, confused by all the new information.

"Director David was killed along with the Deputy Director and some other Officers."

"_Her father's dead?_" Shock and disbelief showing on Tony's face.

"And she's not leaving. Not when I can help it. Obviously David and Vance came up with a contract in case anything would happen to her father, effectively handing her over to NCIS," Gibbs added, having seen the face of his agent.

"So she's NCIS now??" Tony suddenly felt much happier.

"She hasn't signed anything yet," insinuated Gibbs. "Give her time Tony," the team-leader said as he finished his drink off.

Nodding his understanding, Tony felt exhausted all of the sudden, "Boss, do you mind," pointing at the couch, only wanting to sleep.

"Not at all. Get some sleep. You know where the covers are. I'll see you in the morning," Gibbs answered.

* * *

**(Gibbs' House - Tuesday Night – 03:00 am)**

Gibbs was down in his basement, working on his boat when he heard the door creak open. He didn't need to look up to know who was coming downstairs.

"Couldn't sleep?" He asked the young Israeli.

"No, I feel like I have slept all day."

"Not surprising," he stated before summoning her over to where he was sanding his boat. "Come here," he coaxed, giving her one of the sandpaper sheets. "Always with the grain of the wood."

They were working for some time before Ziva broke the comfortable silence which had settled over them.

"He told me months ago, I did not think that it would happen. It took me by surprise." Her voice was so quiet that Gibbs needed to strain his ears to hear her.

"I should have known better than to let the possibility slip my mind," she said, looking at Gibbs.

"You're only human Ziva," the agent replied as he looked up from what he was doing. Meeting her eyes he continued, "The death of your father will hurt for a long time and never really go away. As it will continue to hurt to be exiled."

Seeing her eyes leaving his, he swiftly went on with determination, "But you still got us. Never forget that."

"You cannot promise to be there forever," Ziva quietly offered.

"Oh, I plan to hang around for a long time to come. And so do the others," the agent replied, smirking slightly.

"So, you think I should just sign this contract and go on from there?" she asked after a few moments of thinking about Gibbs words.

"You're good at what you do," said the gray-haired agent.

"I'm tired," stated Ziva after having worked on the boat a bit more. Depositing the sandpaper on the workbench, she bid her goodnight, "Laila tov, Gibbs."

"Good night Ziver."

While he hadn't really answered her question, he knew she understood when he saw her smiling as she went upstairs.

* * *

Unbeknown to Gibbs, Ziva didn't want to sleep in her own bed, but instead opted for the couch, where she sneaked under the covers with Tony, who was totally oblivious to his new sleeping partner.

**TBC...**

* * *

**A/N: **

**Another 3k word chapter YAY! **

**Hope you'll like it. =)**

**Who wants Tiva fluff?**


	7. Sleeping in a doghouse?

_**Previously:**_

_Unbeknown to Gibbs, Ziva didn't want_ _to sleep in her own bed, but instead opted for the couch, where she sneaked under the covers with Tony, who was totally oblivious to his new sleeping partner._

* * *

When Tony woke up he felt something warm and soft next to him. Not awake enough to open his eyes yet, he raised his hand to touch whatever it was that was half lying on top of him. Feeling the form move under his fingers, he slowly cracked first one then the other eye open.

With the curtains still drawn, the living room was badly lit. Confused, he looked around, taking the unfamiliar surrounding in. "_Wth.. Where am I?"_

Then he remembered the unusual weight waking him up in the first place. Looking down he found a mop of curly brown hair resting on his shoulder.

"_Ziva??"_

It took him a few moments to conjure the last day up, "_Right, we're at Gibbs' House."_

Running a hand through Ziva's hair, "_But how did YOU end up here on the couch?" _he wondered as he suddenly he felt 'it'.

"Boss, I swear, I don't know," Tony said.

From his position on the couch he only heard a short-lived chuckle, followed by "I know," before the older agent appeared in his view, drawing the curtains back. Letting sunlight stream into the room which blinded the young agent momentarily.

"What time is it?" Tony groggily asked.

"7 am."

"Oh." "_Guess I can sleep a few more minutes"_

"Get up DiNozzo," Gibbs ordered.

"But, I thought we had the week off," complained Tony.

"We do. But I can't have you sleeping in my living room all day long."

"What about Ziva, Boss," Tony asked as he looked at his unexpected sleeping partner before slowly standing up, stretching his aching limbs while doing so.

"Let her sleep for a few more hours," Gibbs said, going back through the door onto his porch.

Just as Tony was about to pull the covers more properly around Ziva, Gibbs came back.

"Bring her upstairs DiNozzo," the gray-haired agent ordered, flashing Tony a glare. "_That couch is too uncomfortable to sleep on," _Gibbs thought to himself.

"Right..." replied his senior field agent as he picked his partner up and carried her upstairs. Tugging her into her 'own' bed, he quietly wished her sweet dreams before leaving the room again.

"Sogni d'oro, _my_ crazy ninja chick."

* * *

As Tony came down the stairs, after having taken a shower, he found Gibbs sitting at the kitchen table, with glasses on, reading the newspaper.

"Anything planed for today Boss?"

"Nope."

"Not even working on your boat?" Tony joked, earning himself a Gibbs' Slap.

"I guess I deserve that," muttered Tony as he helped himself to a cup of coffee. "_Bad timing to make a joke when passing Gibbs at the same time."_

"You got any sugar around here?"

"Nope," Gibbs replied, smirking slightly at the disgusted expression of his agent when Tony realized that he couldn't kill his coffee with sugar.

"Add it to the grocery list," said the gray-haired agent as he pointed to the list on the fridge.

"Thanks Boss," replied Tony, feeling much better in knowing that his next coffee would be improved in taste.

* * *

It was around 10 am when Ziva finally made an appearance.

"You know?" she stated as she sat down next to the senior agent at the kitchen table.

"Yes. Gibbs told me," said Tony, looking at Ziva as she nodded.

"I'm sorry Zi," he continued after a short time. Making Ziva grimace. "_I begin to dislike this word. Now I know why Gibbs does not like it."_

"So what does the Ninja Chick want for breakfast?" Tony asked, seeing her reaction to his earlier words and wanting to change the topic to lighter subjects.

"Anything but that stuff from yesterday," winced Ziva, while ignoring Tony's nickname for her.

"How about toast? Shouldn't upset your stomach," considered Tony.

"Sounds good."

"Tea? I think the boss got some," frowning as he started to open cupboards.

"Left wall cupboard, right side, next to the crackers," laughed Ziva.

"I don't want to know, do I?" Tony asked in more of a rhetorical way than actually wanting to know for real why she knew where their boss stored the tea.

A few minutes later Tony had managed to fix some light breakfast for his partner.

"Todah Tony," smiled Ziva as he set the plate and tea in front of her.

* * *

"You look tired Tony," observed Ziva after having finished her breakfast.

"This couch isn't really designed to sleep on it. Even less comfortable for two," moaned Tony. "_Let's see if you know how you ended up next to me..." _

"Two?" Ziva knitted her eyebrows. "_Did he and Gibbs fall_ _asleep on it?" _she briefly wondered.

"You don't remember?" he asked, smirking at her obvious confusion.

Then her eyes widened as she recalled the last night. But as fast as her slightly shocked expression came, it was replaced by a teasing smile.

"Maybe you should sleep in a bed tonight, yes?" Watching him closely as she said so.

"Don't think the Boss would like me to sleep next to him in his bed," joked Tony, causing Ziva to laugh. "_I love it when you laugh," _Tony thought inwardly.

They kept talking about light topics and glancing at each other, only stopping when Gibbs came back into the house, after he had spent most of the morning doing some gardening.

"Boss," getting the attention of their team leader, who was looking for a cup of coffee to refill his caffeine level, "McGee messaged me. Abby demands answers. He went out for a drink with her yesterday, to keep her occupied, but he's pretty sure that she'll start asking questions again very soon. I think McGee is curious too."

"Do you want to tell them or should I do it?" Gibbs turned to Ziva, offering her a way out.

"Could you?" she softly asked, not looking at him.

"Alright. Need to check on some work anyway," he said as he finished off the lukewarm coffee.

"Ducky will come by in an hour," Gibbs informed Ziva before going upstairs to shower.

Not ten minutes later the gray-haired agent was back. "Tony, take the list from the fridge and get us some real food. Ziva if you want anything special, tell him," Gibbs said as he grabbed his car keys and left.

* * *

**(Gibbs' House - 12:00 am)**

With Gibbs gone, Ziva made her way upstairs, while Tony got ready to do some shopping. He had just put on his jacket when Ziva reappeared in front of him.

"Tony?"

"Yea?"

"Could you, please?" Ziva gestured to her right hand which sported a bright red cast. Holding a bag in the other hand. Clearly upset at having to ask for help.

"What about your left hand?" Tony asked, after having put the bag as protection around her cast.

"Ducky will come, yes?" smiled Ziva as she turned around to go to take a shower too.

"Maybe I should wait till Ducky is here," Tony called out. "_Don't want to find you passed out on the floor when I get back."_

"You will not come in Tony," warned Ziva as she saw Tony approaching as she was about to step into the bathroom.

Giving her one of his patented DiNozzo' smiles, he settled himself in front of the bathroom door, which caused Ziva to shake her head in amusement. "_Reminds me of Gucci... Always pursues me." _

A while later Dr. Mallard's car pulled up on the driveway. Getting out of his car the M.E. made his way to Gibbs' house. Fully knowing that the front door wouldn't be locked, he stepped into the house.

"Hello?" He called out, only hearing running water.

"Upstairs," Tony's voice was heard.

Once having reached the upper floor, Ducky couldn't help but smile as he spotted Tony sitting on the floor.

"Anthony, hello, what are you doing on the floor?"

"Hey Ducky, just waiting for Ziva to finish her shower," he said, smiling somewhat.

As if on demand the sound of running water stopped.

"Guess that's my signal to leave. Got some groceries to buy," Tony said as he climbed back onto his feet.

"Very well my dear boy," replied Ducky.

Once Tony had left, Ducky softly knocked on the bathroom door, trying to get the attention of the young woman in the room.

"Ziva?"

"Hello Ducky," came her voice, muffled through the door.

"I'll be waiting downstairs," the M.E. said, leaving after he heard her acknowledge his words.

* * *

**(Meanwhile NCIS Headquarters – Abby's Lab)**

"Don't know Abby, he just told me to come here," McGee exclaimed as the Goth in front of him continued to ask him the same question over and over.

"I'm worried Timmy," she finally said, hugging Bert to her and producing a farting sound from it.

"You don't need to Abs."

"Gibbs!" Abby exclaimed as she throw herself at him, hugging him as powerfully as she could.

"Abs, need to breathe," the gray-haired agent said, slowly suffering from the lack of oxygen.

"Sorry Gibbs," the Goth stated as she stepped away, looking a bit remorseful, "Also you don't like apologies, so... Tell us what's going on!"

Gibbs briefly gave her a smile and then started to explain exactly what was happening.

* * *

**(Gibbs' House 13:50 am)**

When Tony got back, loaded with two large shopping-bags, he saw his partner lying on the couch with a book in hand.

"Ducky gone?" He asked from the kitchen.

"Yes, about an hour ago," Ziva replied as she stood up and came over to inspect the food.

"What have you done since then?" Tony asked while he put something in the fridge.

"Reading." Turning to face him, she asked for her tomcat, missing him since the night before. "Did you saw Gucci somewhere?"

"He was checking out the garden in the morning," Tony replied absent minded, but seeing her worried frown he elaborated, "He'll be back. Plus Gibbs put the collar that I bought yesterday on Gucci. So no worries."

With the food stored, Tony deliberated if he should start cooking lunch or wait for his boss to come home.

A phone call to Gibbs later, he was sorting the sausage for the pasta dish he was cooking, while Ziva watched him from behind the counter.

"Wait, can you even stomach this yet?" Tony suddenly asked.

"Yes, Ducky said I could, since the toast did not come back up," laughed Ziva, smirking at Tony's facial expression at her choice of words.

"But not too much at once," she added in afterthought, causing Tony to look up from the sausage again.

"Tony!" Ziva exclaimed, doubling over in laughter.

"Huh?" Confused and a bit worried Tony watched her as she approached him.

Smiling she stopped in front of him, her eyes twinkling with delight as she reached up with her hand. Tony held his breath.

"You got something there," she said as she whipped the sausage from his cheek with her finger. Licking her finger off afterwards, while looking at Tony who momentarily wasn't able to even move a muscle.

"Good, yes?" Ziva teased him as she slightly cocked her head to one side.

"Damn Ninja Chick," muttered Tony under his breath as he stared down at her.

For a few moments they kept standing really close, just looking into each others eyes, before Tony slowly bent down, capturing Ziva's lips with his own.

The kiss started off slow and soft, both wanting to mesmerize the lips of the other, enjoying the feeling of their first real kiss. Seconds past before Tony hungrily drew her body closer to him and Ziva's hands went into his hair as she slung her arms around his neck, intensifying the kiss even more.

Short of breath they slowly parted, smiling at each other, before Tony drew her face close to his once more.

They were about to kiss again when the sound of the front door being opened startled them.

"Gibbs!" They both exclaimed.

Hastily separating, Tony turned to the sausage again, while Ziva slowly made her way to the hallway in order to great Gibbs.

Gibbs looked at her inquiring, "Anything happened while I was away?"

"Ducky was here," stated Ziva, causing a raised eyebrow.

"_You knew exactly that I meant. Your lips look pretty swollen, Ziver," _Gibbs thought but instead opted for something else to say, "What did he say?"

"That I am fine," replied Ziva sourly.

"Ziver," growled the gray-haired agent.

"Apparently I got wood shavings into my stitches..." she lamely replied.

"So he told me," Gibbs stated, smirking at her sudden wide eyes.

"You asked him!" Realization visible on her face as her voice took a slight accusing tone.

"Just making sure you're doing ok," Gibbs replied as he passed her, "Gonna need to find some gloves we can put over the dressing next time," winking at her which caused her to smile.

After they had eaten dinner, Gibbs persuaded Tony to help him sort out the garden, while Ziva had gone upstairs to rest, since she felt slightly sick from the food.

* * *

**(Later that night)**

"Hey, come on, wakey-wakey," Tony said, mocking his female partner in a sing song voice.

"Hmpff... Tony?"

"Gibbs said you slept long enough." Grinning at her as she scowled and yanked the blanket over her head again.

Searching for Ziva's hand under the blanket Tony was having none of it as he pulled her up and out of the door.

"What now?" Ziva asked annoyed, once they had reached the living room.

"Movie!" Declared Tony, causing Ziva to roll her eyes.

"Where's Gibbs?"

"Basement," stated the senior agent as he put the first movie on, before joining Ziva on the couch.

After a few minutes of comfortable silence, in which Tony had drawn the woman next to him close, so that she was snuggled against his side, Ziva broke the stillness.

"What happened today in the kitchen?"

"You don't know?" Tony tried to joke, not knowing how to react properly.

"I know what we did, but..." Frustrated she started to gesticulate with her hands, moving away from Tony while doing so.

"Hey, stop that." he said, pulling her close to him again, sighing, "I meant it. This wasn't just out of a mood. I want us to be together. I... I'm not good at this stuff, Ziva."

"Neither am I," she stated.

"But you started it anyway," observed Tony.

"Cause we need to clear this when we want to continue to work together, yes?"

"What about Gibbs?" Ziva asked after a while.

"We'll worry about him when it comes to it," Tony stated, planting a light kiss on Ziva's lips afterwards.

**(3.5 hours and two movies** **later)**

"And now, the best Bond movie ever," exclaimed Tony as he put another DVD on.

"What?" Ziva sleepily looked around, "Sorry Tony, those medications make me sleepy."

"Don't worry Sweet Cheeks, maybe it's time to sleep anyway." Seeing the clock turning 1 am.

"Yes," agreed Ziva as she stood up and stretched while Tony watched her every move.

"You coming?" Asked Ziva over her shoulder as she ascended the stairs.

"Sure!" Tony quickly followed her. To sleep.

* * *

**(Another hour later)**

When Gibbs finally came out of his basement in order to use his bed for once as a sleeping place, he couldn't help but notice that his couch was deserted and his senior field agent was nowhere to be seen.

"They better not be," growled Gibbs to himself as he made his way upstairs**.**

Quietly approaching his guest-room he opened the door to find Ziva sleeping peacefully next to semi-dressed Tony, who looked up as the light from the corridor illuminated the room.

"No funny business!" Gibbs scolded Tony knowingly.

"Wouldn't dream of it Boss," smirked the younger agent.

"DiNozzo you'll get to sleep in the doghouse!" Gibbs warned the other agent.

"You got a doghouse boss?" Tony mischievously inquired.

"I'll build one," said the gray-haired agent as he left the room.

"I don't know if I should feel worried or happy that he like me enough to build me someplace to sleep in..." wondered Tony, readjusting the duvet over both of them, before lightly kissing Ziva's cheek. Falling asleep with her snuggled into his side once more.

**TBC...**

* * *

**A/N: Do you like the Tony/Ziva teasing banter? I really miss it, so I wrote my own scenes *grins***

**Thx to ****agentscully6 ****and ****NCISTivaFan30 for your reviews =)**


	8. Black Whirlwind

_**Previously:**_

"_DiNozzo you'll get to sleep in the doghouse!" Gibbs warned the other agent._

"_You got a doghouse, boss?" Tony mischievously inquired._

"_I'll build one" said the gray-haired agent as he left the room._

"_I don't know if I should feel worried or happy that he like me enough to build me someplace to sleep in..." wondered Tony, readjusting the duvet over both of them, before lightly kissing Ziva's cheek. Falling asleep with her snuggled into his side once more._

* * *

It was still dark outside when she started tossing around in bed, waking the person next to her.

"Ziva?" Tony asked, sleep letting his voice sound hoarse. "_I need to wake her up somehow, without getting myself killed in the process," _mused Tony as he slowly grasped under her pillow, pulling her gun out from under it. "_Gun secured, I just hope she hasn't got a knife hidden somewhere."_

"Wake up, Sweet Cheeks," nudged Tony, causing Ziva to instantly bolt upright. Breathing heavily, her instincts kicked in as she searched for her gun. To her alarm she soon realized, that it was gone.

Cursing herself for not being alert enough in the first place, she took in her surroundings. "Wh... Tony," finally noticing him sitting beside her. "_Just a dream."_

"Bad dream, huh?" the agent gently inquired, not daring to touch her yet.

"Yes."

"Wanna talk about it?"

"No," stated Ziva shortly as she lay back down, staring at the ceiling, with Tony closely watching her.

"Gibbs was here," Tony told her as he lay back down, too.

"Here?"

"In this room, when we slept," he clarified, causing her to spin around, facing him.

"What did he say?"

"That I'm going to sleep in a doghouse if I'm doing any 'funny business' with you," grinning at her as he told her so.

"Funny business?" Ziva asked, looking at him confused since she was unfamiliar with the term.

"Make a move on you; 'sleep' with you, stuff like that," Tony explained.

"You are still here, he did not throw you out, yes?" smiled the Israeli, eyes sparkling with mischief in the moonlight.

"No. Guess that's a good sign then..." countered Tony as he tugged one of Ziva's loose curls behind her ear.

"Maybe I should talk to him," said Ziva, looking once again into Tony's green eyes.

"Maybe," contemplated Tony, "But for now, let's get some more sleep before discovering if Gibbs' second B is gonna bite us."

* * *

**(Gibbs' House – Wednesday morning – 9 am)**

Having showered while letting Ziva sleep a few minutes longer, Tony was now downstairs, fixing breakfast for them. He had just set the tea down onto a tray, when he heard Ziva's footsteps softly descending down the stairs.

"Gibbs' not here?" Ziva asked as she watched him putting down the last slices of French toast on a plate.

"I think he is with his boat. Haven't seen him yet. Also, I'm pretty sure he already ate," Tony answered, while he took the tray and walked out onto the porch, Ziva following him.

"Thought we could make use of the good weather, it's gonna turn nasty later today," explained the agent when he saw Ziva looking strangely at him, before they both sat down.

Smiling, Tony wordlessly handed her one of the toasts.  
"Todah," she replied as she smiled back at him.

"Prego!"

"I think I should go talk to Gibbs now," Ziva said, once they have finished their meal and Tony was collecting the dishes.

"Yeah, might be a good idea, he won't kill you at least."

"_But he'll kill me instead,"_ thought Tony as his partner made her way indoors.

* * *

**(Gibbs' House – Basement – 10:10 am)**

"Tony said you came into the room last night," stated Ziva as she played with the sand paper in her hand.

"Uh-huh."

"Gibbs..."

"Just keep it out the office," he gruffly replied, effectively cutting Ziva off.

"And IT out of my house," Gibbs added in afterthought, causing Ziva to playful knit her eyebrows together.

"Don't throw me that look, you know what I mean," he warned, as he looked smugly at the Israeli.

"So you are ok with me and Tony?" inquired Ziva.

"It's your choice," Gibbs told her shortly, concentrating on his boat again.

"But I … We care about your opinion..." stated Ziva as she took the sand paper out of his hand.

"Ziver, firstly: it's time for your own set of rules, secondly: you shouldn't waste time just because of one of my rules," the older agent said, finally looking at her.

"So... is that a yes?" Ziva said, flashing him an almost pleading glance.

"You want to hear me say it out loud?" Gibbs huffed, seeing her expression not changing the slightest or her eyes leaving his face. "Alright, yes I am. As long as you don't start breaking my other rules, that's it. And don't betray my trust at the rules I just told you."  
"_So much for my 2nd_ _B..." _mused Gibbs as he looked at the young female in front of him.

"I will not," smiled Ziva happily.

"Not you I'm worried about," huffed the agent in return.

"Todah Gibbs!" she said, surprising Gibbs as she gave him a hug, one that could rival Abby's hugs at any day.

They continued to work on the boat a few more minutes before Gibbs broke the silence.

"Abby is coming over at 2:30 pm."

"McGee?" Ziva asked, nodding at the fact that Abby would be coming over soon.

"Made the mistake to tell his parents that he had finally a week off. Gone to visit them now, but he wants to call you when time lets him," stated Gibbs, causing them both to grin at the image of McGee most likely being mothered by his parents.

* * *

After Ziva had gone to talk to Gibbs, Tony had waited for a few minutes in front of the basement door. Hearing no shouting coming from downstairs, the agent felt it was safe for Ziva to be alone with Gibbs, so he made a trip to his apartment. Needing fresh clothes and wanting to pick up some more movies for them to watch.

Having finished those tasks, he phoned Ziva, learning about Gibbs' response to them being more or less together. But instead of returning to the house, he had spent some extra time with cleaning his apartment. He wanted it to be in neat condition if he and Ziva decided that they needed a break from Gibbs house before he drove back to the Gibbs' residence.

Hearing no noises, Tony put his bag into the quest room before he checked the other rooms in search of Ziva.

Finding her nowhere and seeing her outdoor shoes still in the hallway, he figured that she must be downstairs with Gibbs again; the only place where he didn't wanted to go yet.

So Tony settled down on the couch, newspaper in hand. However, he wasn't able to concentrate for long on it. Therefore, he was soon nervously pacing up and down the porch shortly after.

That was till Tony saw his boss standing in the door, watching him with his ice-blue eyes.

"Ziva told you," stated Gibbs, hiding his grin at seeing his senior field agent so edgy.

"Yes... Boss about the no-house-rule," started Tony uncertainly.

"That's NOT debatable DiNozzo," Gibbs replied, going into Boss-mode.

"I wasn't going to, just wondering if anything else beside IT isn't allowed..." stuttered Tony, causing the older agent to turn his Gibbs stare into an almost laughing expression.

"Just don't do the other stuff in front of me," Adding, "that often," as he saw Tony's expression.

"Don't want you to get a concussion," explained Gibbs smirking.

"Got it boss.." replied the agent, "and Thanks." "_Ziva and I can actually be together!" _thought Tony smiling to himself, more than pleased with current events.

Also his grin was soon replaced by a frown, when Gibbs slapped him - hard.

"That was for breaking rule' 12 in the beginning," Tony's boss said. "Don't ruin it. Ziva and Abby are important to me. Everybody who hurts them, will suffer by me," Gibbs warned his agent.

"Don't think anything would be left of me, if I hurt Ziva."

"Yea, I know," smirked his boss.

"Abby would help destroying the evidence of my death," added Tony.

"And I would make sure that they both get away with it, Tony."

"I figured that one," mumbled the younger agent.

"It's time for lunch," Gibbs said looking at his watch before he went indoors. "Come on DiNozzo," calling his agent to make him help with dinner.

**(A few minutes later)**

"Boss?" started the agent, wanting to ask the one question he had in mind since he started to dutifully cut the vegetables.

"Yeah."

"Where's Ziva?"

"Basement. Fell asleep in the boat," replied Gibbs, causing Tony to blink before the younger agent took off to the basement door.

"DiNozzo!" calling his agent back, "Let her sleep."

"But it's uncomfortable there."

"Nope," said the gray-haired agent as he threw Tony a stern look.

"_But I'm bored..." _moaned Tony inwardly. Then it struck him, "Wait … IN the boat? When I went down there last week it wasn't even recognizable!" Gibbs raised an eyebrow at this.

"Lots of work can be done when two people work on something together."

"_We're only here since Monday... When did they actually worked on it - together,"_ thought Tony as he added the last vegetables into the lasagna, before his boss put it into the stove.

"Help me with getting some wood from the attic," Gibbs ordered as he left the kitchen.

"You got your stock of wood there?" Asked Tony, meeting his boss with disbelief.

"Dry and safe from most insects."

"Ah..."

"Now move," ordered Gibbs, who was already a few meters ahead of his agent.

"Drudge Tony to the fore..." mumbled Tony as he followed his boss upstairs.

"Heard that, DiNozzo," the other agent smugly said as he pulled the attic staircase down.

* * *

**(Once back down in the basement)**

"Slept well, Ziver?" the gray-haired agent asked, after he carefully had woken her.

"Yes, best sleep in a month," grinned Ziva, producing a smirk on Gibbs' face.

"I'm no good for getting a good sleep?" whispered Tony as he leaned on the hull, watching Ziva as she stretched and then furrowed her eyebrows at Tony's words.

"...later Tony..."

* * *

**(Gibbs' House – 2:30 pm) **

The gray-haired agent had barely opened the front door, when he saw something black running past him into the house.

"Hello Abs," he said to the already disappeared Goth.

"Yay! Ziva!" squealed Abby as she rushed into the living room to Ziva, giving the Israeli a bone-crushing hug.

"Abby..." Ziva tried to get the attention of her friend.

"Abs!" Gibbs called out after he had shut the door. "Abs, you're crushing her!" he told the scientist as he pulled her away from Ziva, effectively breaking the hug.

"Keep calm and nice, Abs," he ordered, earning a grateful smile from Ziva, as he went back to the kitchen.

"I'm so excited! You're an agent now! No more sending you off to another country! We need to have a party!" Abby rattled excited.

"I am not sure Abby," said Ziva, once her friend took a break to breathe.

"Okay, than a small party, just the team, me, Ducky and Palmer!"

"Abby!" the former Mossad officer was half shouting by now, shutting Abby up for a second. "I am not even sure if I want to work for the NCIS," explained Ziva calmly.

"You can't leave us!" Abby screamed loudly at the other woman, causing the men, who where in the kitchen repairing the stove, which had stopped working in the middle of being used, to look into the living room for a second.

* * *

**(Kitchen)**

"You think it was good to let Abby loose on Ziva? She's still coming to terms with the whole situation," Tony questioned after they had turned their attention back to the task at hand.

"Abby will convince her," stated Gibbs firmly.

"You planed this!"

"Maybe."

"Boss, this could backfire!" Tony didn't know if he should be aghast or concerned.

"It won't. Coddling Ziva won't help her. She can't keep brooding things over in her head. This would only lead to second thoughts. Which aren't good for her. She needs to trust her first instincts."

"That's the second time I heard you say something that long," said Tony, marveling at his boss little speech.

"Ouch!" looking flabbergasted at the older agent, who just slapped him - again. "I'm getting a concussion at this speed."

"Then stop making misplaced remarks," replied Gibbs smugly, while his agent couldn't help but wonder if his boss enjoyed hitting his head a little too much.

* * *

**(Living Room) **

"Please Ziva!" begged Abby, close to tears, "You can't leave. We already lost Kate and Jenny. We can't lose you, too."

"No one stays forever Abby," said Ziva, having a faraway look.

"This is even worse than them dying. You would leave us willingly," Abby exclaimed. "What's so wrong with working for the Navy? You did nothing else before," she questioned, looking her friend into the eyes.

"I worked for Mossad before. It would close that book of my life for real. I am not ready for this..." admitted Ziva after she had diverted her gaze from the black-haired woman.

"Aww Ziva!" finally understanding what went on in Ziva's head. Abby pulled her friend into another, yet more loosely, hug. Willing her friend to finally relax and not to go stiff like she did after Abby came racing into the house earlier.

"It's chapter..." Abby corrected, her voice muffled by Ziva's hair.

"What?"

"Close a chapter of your life..."

"Stupid idioms..." muttered Ziva as Abby let go of her, so that both could sit normal on the couch.

"You know, I can help you to find ways to communicated with your friends from Mossad without other people knowing," Abby stated after a while.

"Abby, you really..."

"Shush, don't! I _will_ help you! Whether you want or not. I know a friend who has those amazing pieces of technology."

"You sure?" questioned Ziva, still uncertain about the offer.

"Positive," grinned the Goth, giving her friend another hug. One which Ziva, who was now a bit happier with her current situation, gladly returned this time.

* * *

"Stove's dead," announce Tony as he joined the girls of Gibbs' team in the living room.

"Dead?" Abby asked.

"Yep, gone to the stove heaven," joked Tony. Confusing Ziva even more.

"DiNozzo!"

"Boss..." whined the agent, having been slapped again. Seeing Gibbs glare at him he quickly shut up.

"Pizza is on the way," stated Gibbs, taking a seat – the last seat – on the couch next to Abby and Ziva.

"You two ok?" He asked them. "Yes/Yep," both simultaneous answered, smiling widely.

Then Abby stood up, just to shoo Gibbs to make room for her so she could sit on the other side of him, making him sit in the middle.

"Abs?" Gibbs asked, a bit confused at her actions.

"I missed you guys. No one is coming down to visit me, except Ducky and Palmer. It's sooooooo boring," she told them as she cuddled into his side.

"DiNozzo, if you want to keep standing there you can organize some drinks," Gibbs smugly replied, once Ziva had imitated Abby's position. Not without him noticing the teasing smile Ziva gave Tony as she settled in next to him. Or Tony's expression when he saw the last seat being taken for that matter.

* * *

**(Gibbs' House - 09:15 pm)**

With the second pizza that day Abby, Ziva and Tony found themselves once again in front of Gibbs' TV watching one of Tony's movies. Abby having decided that she wouldn't leave till later that night.

That's when the power went off. Leaving them without TV and surrounded by darkness.

"Guess someone didn't like the movie," said Tony and if it wouldn't have been pitch black he would have seen Ziva and Abby staring at him.

"You guys alright?" came the voice of Gibbs out of the dark, making Tony jump in surprise, while Ziva laughed at Tony's reaction.

"Yes Gibbs," she replied as the older agent went into the kitchen, coming back with a set of candles and some flashlights.

"Storm must have cut the electric somewhere. Could take some time," Gibbs stated as he lit one of the candles, placing the rest of them on the table along with the flashlights.

"So no more movies tonight," assessed Tony, sounding rejected.

"Abs, you better stay tonight," Gibbs said.

"'K," replied Abby, who was fiddling with the candles.

"I'm sure Ziva won't mind if you sleep in the same bed as her," Gibbs smugly stated.

"Yay!" squealed Abby, making Ziva chuckle as she was 'attacked' by the Goth once more.

Neither she nor Tony had told Abby anything about them yet, and Gibbs was clearly taking advantage of it. But one person wasn't happy at all.

"Boss," said Tony in a low voice as he indicated for his boss to follow him.

"What is it?" Gibbs asked casually, when they arrived in the kitchen.

"What is this all about? I thought you weren't against us and now you tell Abby something like that," growled the younger agent, eyes blazing with anger.

"I don't have anything against it. Doesn't mean I need to let you two near each other every time," said Gibbs, smirking at his agents display of anger before he went back into the living room.

"Second B," growled Tony as he went back to the others also.

**TBC...**

* * *

**A/N: **I hope you will like this chapter, also I'm not sure if everyone is more or less still in character.

#Gibbs having a bit of fun in ordering Tony around.. (And I had a lot of fun writing it. Need to make up for the lack of slaps in season 6 =P.. dunno.. 5 or 6 slaps by now? =D)

* * *

**Review please ?!?!?!?!?!**


	9. Fight and Love

_**Previously:**_

"_Boss," said Tony in a low voice as he indicated for his boss to follow him._

"_What is it?" Gibbs asked casually, when they arrived in the kitchen._

"_What is this all about? I thought you weren't against us and now you tell Abby something like that," growled the younger agent, eyes blazing with anger._

"_I don't have anything against it. Doesn't mean I need to let you two near each other every time," said Gibbs, smirking at his agents display of anger before he went back into the living room._

"_Second B," growled Tony as he went back to the others also._

* * *

"I'm up for telling ghost or horror stories," Abby told Ziva. "It's stormy, dark and raining. This is perfect!"

"Abby, come on. Horror stories?" groaned Tony from his spot on the easy chair.

"Afraid Tony?"

Inwardly groaning at Ziva's teasing, he replied, "Nope, not at all, but what could scare us?" throwing his boss a pleading look to make them stop this activity, before it even started.

But instead of responding to his agents' gaze, he encouraged Abby, "Go on Abs," causing Tony to groan loudly. His protest earned him a nudge to his side from Ziva, who swapped her place on the couch for the arm of the chair in which Tony sat.

"Ouch..." he cried as he rubbed his aching side, while slightly glaring at Ziva. Finally, he gave in, "Abby please go on."

"Why, thank you Tony," smiled Abby, getting more comfortable before starting.

"Ok... On a Saturday afternoon, a little girl and her mom go into a toyshop. They wanted to buy a doll, so the little girl went looking at all the different kinds of dolls. Finally she found the perfect doll for her. But when her mom saw the doll, which had a sad smile, she suggested that her daughter gets one with a happy smile instead.  
However the little girl wouldn't change her opinion. She still wanted the one with the sad smile, so her mom brought it for her.  
Later that night, the little girl was already in bed, about to fall asleep, when she heard noises. Looking around for the source she found nothing.  
Suddenly the noises got clearer and she heard: 'Kara I'm on the first step, Kara I'm on the 2nd step, Kara I'm on the last step, Kara I'm in the hall, Kara I'm in your bedroom, Kara I'm in your bed. KARA I'M GOING TO KILL YOU'," Abby told in a mysterious voice.

"When the little girls' mom came checking on her daughter, she found the doll with a happy smile on its face and a knife in its hand.  
The girl was dead," ended Abby. A smile playing on her lips at the silence, which had settled over the room after her story.

"I would have wanted the doll with the sad face too... Actually I got one for my 6th Birthday," said Abby in afterthought, making her friends grin.

"What's so funny? That story should scare you," she said, slightly pouting.

"Nothing Abs," Gibbs smirked as he drank his coffee.

"It is so you, Abby," smiled Ziva.

"This doll sounds a bit like 'Chucky'," mused the 4th person.

"What or who is Chucky?" asked a confused Ziva.

"You don't know Child's Play? It's a classic horror movie!" exclaimed Tony, "We'll just have to add this one and the other parts of it, to the ever growing list you need to watch, Sweet Cheeks."

After a few more stories from Abby and Tony and even one from Gibbs and Ziva each, (which were actually based on real events), the group departed for the night.

* * *

**(Ziva's room – Thursday – 2:23 am)**

"So you and Tony," started Abby once they where both in bed and the light was turned off.

"What about me and Tony?"

"You tell me," countered the Goth.

"I do not know what you mean," Ziva answered innocently.

"Ziva," exclaimed Abby as she tackled her friend, planning to tickle her senseless.

"Abby," cried Ziva, trying to get away from her attacker. Not being able to use her hands properly, because of the cast on her right hand and the still present band-aids on her left knuckles, she finally surrendered. "Please stop!"

Reacting instantly, Abby flopped down next to her friend, looking at her in the dim light the moonshine provided. "You going to tell me now?"

"There is not much to tell," answered Ziva, facing her black-haired friend.

"But..", probed Abby.

"We kissed," the Israeli stated bluntly.

"Yay!" squealed Abby, her fists going up in victory, "I KNEW IT! YOU'RE MEANT TO BE TOGETHER," her voice getting louder with every single letter.

"Abby, quiet! You will wake Gibbs and Tony!" Ziva whispered, desperately wishing for her friend to calm down.

"Oops," grinned Abby.

"I am sure they heard you," muttered the Israeli darkly.

"Who cares, they know anyway," squealed Abby. "I mean, Gibbs knows, right?" Abby said. suddenly fearing that she got her friends into trouble. "_Maybe I just imagined Gibbs smirking when he told me where I can sleep. Oh my god, what if.."_

"Yes, he knows," smiled Ziva, interrupting Abby's thoughts.

"How has he reacted?"

"Tony said that Gibbs warned him not to do any 'funny business' or he would sleep in the doghouse."

"Doghouse?!" Abby's eyes were going wide.

"Yes..." smirked Ziva, remembering the last few hours, "Oh and Gibbs gave us some new rules."

After a few minutes of silence Abby couldn't stop herself from asking, "Come on, tell me! What rules?!"

Ziva, who was half asleep by now, blinked a few times in confusion, having thought that the conversation was over. She started to recite Gibbs' rules to her friend anyway.

**(A few minutes later)**

"You know, maybe we should get you a tattoo," said Abby out of the blue, making her friend frown at the sudden noise.

"Abby?"

"A tattoo often stands for something important to you. A reminder of some sort," the Goth rattled on.

"I already have one," mumbled Ziva in the middle of Abby's rambling before turning around to lie on her stomach.

"WHAT!" Abby's screech was even louder than her victory cheer.

"Abby!"

"Sorry, but what?" Her friend repeated a bit quieter this time.

"Why are you so surprised..." Ziva wanted to know, again turning around so that she was facing Abby this time.

"Nothing... It's just... I've never thought... You know... That... Well..."

"Abby," the Israeli said, "You are rambling."

"Sorry," after a moment, "I'm apologizing too much..." Her thoughts were racing, "Does Tony know?"

"Yes..."

"WHAT!"

"Abby..." a tired Ziva said, slowly getting upset over her friends variation of loudness.

"How? You said you kissed, not that you ha.." Abby's thoughts were spinning more and more.

"We do not have done THAT," exclaimed Ziva, interrupting her friend before she could finish.

"But.."

"L.A., he saw me on the pool, when I stood up to go to my room to change, so we could take that road trip he wanted to go on."

"Oh, for a second I thought he saw it when you played married assassins."

"I would have killed him, if he would have taken his eyes somewhere else than my face," muttered Ziva.

"So you two didn't?" asked Abby sheepish, eliciting a sigh from Ziva, "Abby..."

"What? I mean that sounded very real. And.."

"Abby, it was only for show. Tony did push-ups. And our bodies were not touching. There."

"Never?"

"Never," said Ziva, while thinking "_except him getting too comfortable and me having to kick him to stop it.."_

"'k, so what kind of tat is it? Can I see it? Pleaseeeeeeeeee," asked Abby, followed by a rustling of sheets and clothes.

"Awwww, that's beautiful!"

"Todah," smiled Ziva.

**(A few minutes later²)**

"Tell me about it," probed Abby an already half asleep Ziva.

"Hm?"

"Israel. How is it there?"

"Beautiful," sighing, "I will miss it."

Also it wasn't the answer Abby expected to hear, she continued. "Hm... You'll have to show me!"

"Abby, I cannot..."

"You'll be able to visit it again," the Goth said confident. "And I'm gonna go with you then!" smiling at her friend, she repeated herself. "Yep, we'll go there sometime. Even when that means we have to wait till we're old and wrinkly." Making them both burst out laughing loudly.

Suddenly the door opened.

"Hey!" called a slightly grumpy Gibbs.

"Hey Gibbs!" they greeted the gray-haired agent, grinning from ear to ear. Eyes shinning with happiness.

"It's 4 in the morning," he told them, causing Abby and Ziva to look at him in a way as if to say _'And?'._

"Abs, you've to be at work in less than 4 hours. Catch up some sleep," Gibbs said sternly.

"I can change at work. And there are nearly no cases anyway. It's so boring. So why not pull an all-nighter?!"

Ignoring Abby's answer, Gibbs concentrated on the other person in the room, "Ziva, you need your rest too!"

"But we're talking, Gibbs!" whined Abby.

"You can continue talking later today. It's nearly morning," he said, fixing both with a stare.

"Now, lights off and sleep!" Gibbs said, his tone leaving no room for more arguments.

"Yes DAD!" they half-shouted at him as he closed the door behind him. A small grin on his face.

* * *

**(Gibbs' House – Thursday – 7 am) **

Quietly opening the door, he looked into the room, smiling as he observed the two figures who where comfortable huddled against each other.

"Abs," Gibbs softly called. Upon receiving no answer, he made his way over to her bedside, "Time to get up," slightly shaking her.

"Only ten more minutes, please," mumbled Abby into her pillow.

"Can't do Abs," said Gibbs, before he quickly pulled the blanket away from her, exposing her to the cool air of the room and making her cry out in protest.

"Gibbsssssssss," moaning about the agents' way of waking her up, she finally sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Breakfast's ready. Hurry up," Gibbs told her then, smiling to himself as he left.

* * *

**(Gibbs' House – 8 am) **

"Come on Sweet Cheeks, rise and shine," Tony coaxed the sleeping form, which only rolled over to the other side of the bed in response, away from the disturbing source, also known as Anthony DiNozzo.

"Hey," he said, frowning he slightly shook her shoulder. After a few more tries and not getting the desired reaction he left the room, making Ziva unconsciously sigh in satisfaction of the renewed quietness.

"Boss," Tony called out as he came running down the stairs. "I think something is wrong with Ziva," meeting Gibbs' questioned gaze, "She won't wake up."

"No surprise there," stated his boss matter-of-factly.

"What?" Now Tony was completely confused. "_How can he be that calm?!"_

"She and Abby stayed up till early in the morning," replied Gibbs smirking over the brim of his coffee cup.

Tony's mind wandered back to earlier that year when Ziva bought Abby the cupcake after having a sleepover.

* * *

Even later than the day before, Ziva made her way downstairs.

"Yesterday was fun," she greeted her 'now' boyfriend, kissing his cheek as she sat next to him on the couch.

"Sure was," replied Tony absent minded, not really liking the topic since he rather would forget about last night.

Sensing his bitter mood, Ziva became concerned, "Tony?"

"You snuggled with Gibbs..." hissed Tony quietly despite the running TV, not wanting to be overheard by Gibbs, who surely would be close by - somewhere.

"I was just teasing you Tony," exclaimed the Israeli, slowly becoming irritated too.

"You seemed to be very comfortable!" Tony suddenly yelled.

"Tony! What is wrong with you?" Ziva exclaimed, getting tired of his act. "I was just having a good time," muttered the Israeli as she got up and started to walk to the stairs again.

Seeing her walk away, Tony knew instantly that he had overreacted, "Ziva, I... Ziva wait, please."  
"I know," he admitted, standing up too, Tony searched a few moments for the right words, before he continued, "I guess I'm just grumpy cause Gibbs made me sleep on that couch again."

Coming up to him and stopping right in front of him, Ziva playfully laid a hand on his cheek.

"Does my Little Hairy Butt need a massage?" she seductively teased him, already having forgiven him for his little outburst.

"Zeevah, that's downright mean," growled the agent as he laid his hands on her hip, drawing her body closer to his own.

"Payback is a bastard, yes?" she whispered against his mouth, their lips only millimeters apart now.

"Bitch," replied Tony just before their lips met, making Ziva withdraw from Tony in confusion.

Instantly feeling the loss of her in his arms, he gently pulled her back. "Payback is a bitch, not bastard," he corrected her, lightly kissing her lips.

"I would never call you a bitch, Sweet Cheeks," whispered Tony, making Ziva blush, as she realized her mistake.

Looking deep into his eyes for several moments, she slowly leaned closer to him again.

However before Tony could reciprocate her movement she had turned around. "I am going to take a shower."

Dumbstruck he kept standing rooted to the spot, till she called out to him again, "Want to help?"

Uttering a "Crazy ninja" he hastily chased after her. "_Gibbs' rules be damned."_

* * *

**(Gibbs' living room - half an hour later) **

"You can really be some mean chick, David," Tony softly growled.

"I asked if you could help. YOU had just a different opinion of what I meant," laughed Ziva.

"Yeah..." sighed Tony. "_Should have known that she meant the cast protection... You're stupid DiNozzo," _he scolded himself inwardly.

"But you enjoyed the view, yes?" smirked the Israeli knowingly.

"Oh definitely." "_But I could have lived without the cold shower afterwards,"_ thought Tony.

"Have you been thinking about Vance' offer?" Tony suddenly asked. Upon her nod, he pressed further, "You made a decision yet?"

"Can you get me the folder, please?"

"Uhm, sure," not knowing if her request was a good or bad thing, but hoping for the former, he went to get it from Gibbs' room.

When he neared the desired item, he saw something sticking out of it. Wanting to sort the pile, he opened the folder. When he did, he then recognized the certificate.  
First he thought it was a cover-up and made to make the paperwork go through. Then he saw the date, "03.07.2000".

Momentary shock was on his face, before it clouded. Taking the certificate and the folder, he went downstairs, wanting to know how this was possible.

"Why didn't you tell me?" his voice holding more accusation than he wanted.

"Tell you?" wondered Ziva as she put the magazine, which she had been reading, down.

"This," he replied, shoving the document into her face.

"Tony..." Ziva tried to explain, once she saw her marriage license and what he most likely would be thinking right now.

"No... I don't want to hear it," he harshly cut her off.

He was about to march out of the room, when Ziva stood up from the couch and tried to get his attention once again, "Tony!"

"What I am for you? A nice affair?" he spat as he spun around to face her.

"No, Tony.."

"Damn it, Ziva you are married!!" he shouted, his expression leaving no doubt that he was angry, but also giving away the underlying sadness.

"Will you listen to me," she now screamed, having given up on being calm for the sake of a normal conversation.

"No! This," Tony yelled, pointing between her and him, "was a mistake."

"Goodbye Agent David," snarled Tony, slamming the front door behind him.

* * *

"What happened?" Gibbs asked, careful to be quiet and not scare the young woman, who was still standing in his living room, not moving a muscle.

"I... He... the copy," Ziva managed to get out, still to shocked to form complete sentences as she pointed to the folder where the copy of her marriage license was lying on.

"Ziver," sighed Gibbs, crossing the room, "Come on, I'll make you some tea."  
Knowing very well that she wouldn't like to be cuddled right now, cause she would only break down, which she hated to do. In front of people more than anything..

After he had set the tea down on the kitchen table, in front of Ziva, Gibbs made his way into the living room.

When he returned, he had the yellow NCIS folder in hand. Running over the different sheets it included, he took the contract out of it, placing it in front of her along with a pen.

"You made your decision a long time ago, Ziva."

Looking at him for some time, she exhaled deeply as she took the pen...

* * *

**(Later that night) **

"Gibbs?" a tentative voice asked, waking the elder agent instantly.

"Ziver," he said hoarsely as he noticed her standing at the foot of his bed, her form only visible by the light from the hallway.

"Come'ere," coaxed Gibbs as he patted the spot next to him, after he switched on the beside lamp.

Silently she walked over to him as he lifted the covers for her to crawl under.

Much to Gibbs surprise she didn't argue with him at all and lay down, albeit tense.

"Relax. It's going to be ok." He told her, pulling her a bit closer to him so that she was lying right next to him. "That's better, and now close your eyes and get some sleep," he said in a soft fatherly tone as he felt her getting more comfortable.

"Laila tov, Ziver," whispered Gibbs. Some slurred muttering was the only reply he got.

* * *

**(Flashback)**

"Daddy!?"

When Gibbs opened his eyes he was greeted by his 5-year-old daughter, standing in front of his side of the bed, eyes red and puffy from crying.

"Hey, munchkin. Nightmare?" He softly asked Kelly as he reached out to her, wiping some of the tears off her face. Seeing her nod, he wordlessly lifted he covers a bit as he scooted over to make room for her.

"When is mommy coming back?" she asked, her voice muffled by the bedsheets.

"As soon as your grandma feels better, sweetie."

"Luv ya daddy," Kelly mumbled as she fell asleep.

"Love you too, Kelly"

**TBC...**

* * *

**A/N: Reviews are much appreciated.  
**


	10. Shower anyone?

_**Previously:**_

"_When is mommy coming back?" she asked, her voice muffled by the bedsheets._

"_As soon as your grandma feels better, sweetie."_

"_Luv ya daddy." Kelly mumbled as she fell asleep._

"_Love you too, Kelly"_

* * *

**(Gibbs' House – Friday – 5:58 am)**

Creeping into the house, Tony made his way upstairs. Having made his mind up for some time now, he hesitantly opened the door to the guest room. Instead of the expected sight of Ziva, he was greeted by an empty room, the bed not really looking any different than the morning before.

Furrowing his eyebrows, he set the flowers on the bed before making his way across the hall. "_Surely Gibbs is awake by now. He'll know where she is. He's gonna kill me though. No choice, your own fault DiNozzo!"_ contemplated Tony as he unsteadily walked downstairs.

As he descended the stairs to the basement, he heard the shaping of wood.

"Took your time, DiNozzo," his boss welcomed him.

"Boss, I know I shouldn't have done that," Tony started to explain.

"Done what?" Prompted Gibbs as he looked up and straight at Tony's disheveled form.

"Jumping to conclusions without knowing all the facts..."

"Damn right, DiNozzo," growled the older agent as he continued to work on his boat.

Letting a short laugh escape, Tony retorted, "What do you want me to do? Say that I'm sorry? Thought it's a sign of weakness."

"I'm not the one you should apologize to."

"Right, where is she?" Tony wanted to know, going nervously through his hair at the same time.

"Upstairs," Gibbs curtly replied.

"I already looked there. She isn't in her bed."

"Cause she's in mine," stated Gibbs, which caused Tony to raise his left eyebrow.

"Don't even think that way!" growled the gray-haired agent.

"I wasn'..." stuttered Tony, only to be interrupted by Gibbs again, whose anger at his senior agent had risen anew.

"DiNozzo, go back to your apartment! You reek of alcohol. Take a shower. Get sober!"

"And don't come back before you have done so!" Gibbs half-shouted at the retreating form of Tony DiNozzo.

* * *

**(A few minutes later)**

"Gibbs?" Ziva inquired, her voice clearly asking what happened minutes ago.

Before she could voice her thoughts, Gibbs diverted her attention. "Did you eat something yet?"

Upon her negation, he led her back upstairs. Confused she watched him messing around in the kitchen as he fixed her some breakfast.

"Gibbs..." Ziva tried again, half begging for an answer.

"DiNozzo came back a few minutes before you came downstairs."

"I heard you yell at each other, but I could not understand what about."

"He knows he made a mistake."

"Why is he not here then?" Ziva softly whispered.

"Ziver, he drank last night. A lot, apparently. I told him to get sober and clean himself up before talking to you." Gibbs explained, causing her to nod in understanding.

"He'll be back," he reassured her, squeezing Ziva's shoulder as he went past her.

"Are you up for a trip to NCIS? Vance called," informed Gibbs. Seeing her gloomily facial expression, he continued to explain, "Thought you could bring Abby her caffeine dosage while I go and get the paperwork, which Vance ordered to be done. I know that you two haven't had a chance to talk since the night before yesterday."

He was relieved when she nodded her consent, not really wanting her to be alone in his house. With his boat. The boat which now had a huge flaw. After the fight with Tony, Ziva had sanded a particular spot too much yesterday. He would have to replace the stem bar later.

* * *

**(NCIS Headquarters – Abby's Lab – 8 am)**

"ZIVA!!!"

"Hey Abby," replied the Israeli, getting half crushed by Abby's hug.

"I'm soooo sorry. I was so wiped out when I finally left NCIS that I completely zonked out on my couch. I just wanted to take a short break! Then I fell asleep, but I really wanted to talk to you! I'm so sorry."

"It is okay, Abby." Ziva, who was only half listening, eventually said, breaking her friend out of her rambling.

"What's wrong?" Abby asked, finally picking up on her friends subdued mood.

"Nothing."

"Tell me," urged Abby, holding Ziva at arms length.

"We got into a fight..." muttered the Israeli, her eyes focusing on the floor.

"You and Tony?"

"Yes."

"Why?

"That is a long story," sighed Ziva, looking up from the floor.

"Ziva."

"I do not want you to be mad at me too."

"Why would I be mad at you? You're my best friend!" Abby asked aghast.

Contemplating her friends' words Ziva sighed, and went into the back of Abby's lab. Abby who had followed her, gave her a curious look as Ziva sat down on the futon.

"Promise me not to interrupt me or judge before I am finished?"

Abby, who noticed the seriousness in Ziva's voice, nodded, before sitting down next to her friend.

"Tony asked me yesterday if I had made a decision concerning Vance' offer. I did not answered him, but told him to get the contract from Gibbs' room," started Ziva. She noticed that her friend was about to interrupt her and she held her hand up, urging Abby to be quiet and to just listen.

"When he came back he had another paper in hand," she continued, looking down at her hands, "A copy of my marriage license."

Her last statement was followed by silence. Ziva was expecting Abby to scream at her or to just leave her. But when nothing like that happened Ziva looked up. Instead of anger and betrayal, she saw curiosity and also concern in Abby's eyes.

"What happened?" The Goth inquired gently.

"Tony screamed at me. Asked me if he was just a nice affair. He would not let me explain," Ziva quietly said.

"Tell me about your marriage," Abby asked equally quietly.

"I had just finished an undercover operation in France. We were dealing with the last terrorists, when I met a man named Jake Carrson.  
It turned out that he was an US Air Force officer stationed in 'Polygone Range', an air base in France and Germany.

First we only met once or twice a week. After a while we saw each other daily. The more time we spent together, the more I fell in love with him and he with me.

Hunting down the last men of the 'cell' was taking longer than expected. Jake and I continued to explore what we had. The Mossad officers with me, who had known me since childhood, let me roam freely, not really involving me in the clean up. They said that I already had taken down the main person, so they would do the rest. That left me with a lot of time to spend.

It was the end of June in 2000. I had known Jake for 11 months and we were basically living together in his off-base apartment. He had managed to get a weekend off so we went to southern France. We were at the beach, looking at the sunset, when he suddenly looked at me. His gaze was holding so much love and contentment, I cannot describe it clearly. Jake then asked me to marry him.

I was so happy and did not care about what my father or anyone else would say. Jake's commander helped us to arrange everything. We did not know how much time we had before my assignment was over and I would be recalled, but we knew that if it would happen before we were married, we most likely would never see each other again.

We married on 3rd July, only a few days after he proposed.

When my father found out he was furious with me, but important things diverted his attention from us.

At this time HAMAS started a lot of attacks, so I was called back to Israel shortly after we married.

We wanted to meet again in England. I was supposed to hunt down some men there and he managed to get a transfer.

But it never happened.

Two days after we said goodbye to each other on the airport, Jake was involved in a car crash."

By the time Ziva had finished her story, she had forgotten about the world around her and silent tears were running down her cheeks.

As she tried to compose herself and finally looked sideways to her friend, she saw that Abby was standing.

"Abby.." whispered Ziva. She feared that her friend would leave her like Tony had, but before she could think more about it, Abby was back, a box of tissues in her hand.

"Might need those," Abby chocked out.

"Todah," answered the Israeli, moments before her friend launched herself on her.

"That was... beautiful, but horrible at the same time..." whispered Abby into Ziva's hair.

Together they let themselves be overwhelmed with emotions.

* * *

**(Gibbs' House – 11:23 am)**

The quietness of the house was broken, by the sound of the home phone ringing. Gibbs, who was on his way to his boat, picked it up.

"Ziva!" the older agent shouted upstairs from the living room.

"Yes?" She replied once she has descended the stairs.

"For you, McGee," Gibbs said, holding the phone to her.

"Todah."

"You don't have your cell on?" Asked Gibbs.

"Uhm... no?"

"Never be unreachable."

"Yes Gibbs." Said Ziva, feeling like a child scolded by her parents.

"Hey McGee," she greeted her friend.

'Hi Ziva, how are you?' He replied in return.

"I am fine."

'Really?'

"Yes, how was your week?"

'Oh, my mom made me help with some repairs,' moaned McGee, causing Ziva to softly chuckle.

"Not such a good time, yes?"

'Oh no, it's been great to finally be able to spend some time with my parents,' replied Tim cheerily, only realizing the meaning of his words after he already said them.

'I'm sorry, Ziva.'

"Do not worry."

'Abs told me that you and Tony finally got together. It was about time.'

"Hm.." replied Ziva absent minded.

'Something wrong?'

"We got into a fight."

'Damn, I'll kill him!' exclaimed McGee, making Ziva laugh again.

"No need Tim. But thank you."

'Alright. If I should do it anyway, tell me.'

"I will, although I most likely will do it myself," said the Israeli, smirking to herself.

'I'm sure of that. Listen I need to go. My parents want to go over to my cousin's place,' McGee said sighing, 'I'll be back on Monday. How about dinner then and we can do some catch up?' he suggested.

"I would like that."

'Good,' said Tim, "Bye Ziva.'

"Lehit, McGee," replied Ziva, before going back upstairs to her book.

* * *

**(Gibbs' House – Ziva's Room – 4:56 pm)**

A soft knock was heard.

"Come in," called Ziva, placing her book into her lap.

Since she was awaiting his return, she wasn't surprised at all when Tony cautiously walked into the room, shutting the door behind him.

"I was a complete jerk," admitted Tony.

When she didn't respond, but only cocked her head to the side, looking at him intensely, he continued, "I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions."

Still not getting a response, he got frustrated, "Ziva, please say something. Scream at me. Throw something at me. Kill me if you want, but do something."

She kept silent, only looking at him with guarded eyes. Waiting.

"Please Ziva," begged Tony, taking a step towards the bed.

Her only response was to blink at him, not reacting to his approach in the slightest.

It took a few minutes, filled with pleading and staring gazes, before he worked up the courage to sit down on her bed.

"I screwed up. I'm sorry, Sweet Cheeks," Tony apologized to her, finally causing her to react.

"Yes, you did," she agreed nodding, before she leaned over to kiss his cheek.

"What...?" Tony asked, dumbfounded by her action.

"I was just waiting for you to apologize, yes?" Ziva explained smirking, which coaxed a smile out of Tony also.

"Does Gibbs know?" Tony asked after they were sitting across from each other for a while.

"Yes, when you... I told him yesterday."

"I'm sorry, I caused you more pain," he apologized again and then took her hand, linking his fingers with hers.

"I can understand if you don't want to tell me about the license anymore," mumbled Tony as he looked at their hands.

"I want to. You should know, yes?" said Ziva as she took a few deep breaths before she started to retell her story for the second time that day. By the time she was finished, she was crying again.

"I..." Tony broke off. Not knowing what to say he just drew her close to him.

"It is history, yes?" croaked Ziva against Tony's chest. She wasn't sure if she cried because of Jake or because of having been relieved of her secret, which she had kept to herself for all these years.

"I guess," he replied, "Are you sure your father didn't..."

"Yes. My aunt was keeping her eyes on what my father was doing as soon as I told her about Jake."

"Your aunt? The one I told to leave you alone?" grinned Tony, inwardly hoping to change the conversation to lighter topics. He was still getting used to the more emotional side of Ziva and didn't know how to treat her properly at those times yet.

"Yes. My aunt Nettie, who YOU told that we were married," Ziva replied, taking Tony's bait.

"I spent hours trying to explain to her that I have not married again," grumbled Ziva, then lightly punched Tony's stomach.

"Ooff, guess I deserved that one. Was she furious or happy about my message?"

Tilting her head, she knitted her eyebrows, "More sad. I promised her to invite her next time. Why do you want to know?"

"Just checking," replied Tony as he leaned down to kiss her forehead while she was still snuggled against his chest.

"Come on, let's try out Gibbs' fireplace," he said, lifting her off the bed and placing her, feet first, on the floor.

* * *

**(Ziva's Room – Saturday – 2 am)**

"Ziva?" A sleepy Tony asked as he felt the bed shift.

"I need a shower," mumbled Ziva.

"Shower? Hm... Not without me, Sweet Cheeks," mused Tony as he followed her a few minutes later.

Afterwards, when the let the water wash away the evidence of their passion, she nuzzled her head into his chest. She listened to his steady heart beat as he inhaled her scent, while softly stroking her back till she had calmed down again.

Tony then got hold of the towel hanging near by. Wrapping her in it, he picked her up bridal style and carried her over to the bed. He took a moment to just watch her after he laid her on it, before pulling the blanket over her half asleep form.

Kissing her, he then headed for another shower – a cold one.

**TBC...**

* * *

**A/N:**

**Hope you liked it? **

**If it weren't for the bunch of Story Alerts or Fav. Alerts I get EVERY chapter, I probably would stop updating this version..^^**

**

* * *

**

I picked the Air Base in Italy as meeting point but then I saw the Air Base that is in France/Germany... Ziva said something about speaking French better than English.. France is also a nice place for Honeymoon... Whine, nice countryside...

Dunno when the Base was founded, but I'll go with it anyway.. Remember: it's FICTION =D

* * *


	11. Moving on

_**Previously**__**:**_

_Tony then got hold of the towel hanging near by. Wrapping her in it, he picked her up bridal style and carried her over to the bed. He took a moment to just watch her after he laid her on it, before pulling the blanket over her half asleep form._ _Kissing her, he then headed for another shower – a cold one._

* * *

**(Gibbs' House – Saturday – 6:20 am)**

It was in the early morning, the sun was barely up, when Ziva sneaked out of bed and tiptoed downstairs.

As she reached the kitchen she stopped short at the doorway. Inside the room she saw Gibbs putting his special brand of coffee on, still clad in his sleeping shorts and t-shirt.

"Boker tov, Gibbs," she greeted him as she entered the room.

But instead of a greeting she was met by silence. Not thinking anything of it, she went over to fill the kettle with water in order to make tea.

While doing so, Ziva could feel Gibbs' icy stare boring into the back of her head. She tried to ignore it for several minutes as he continued to watch her closely. Finally she couldn't help but to start to squirm under his piercing gaze.

In the end she admitted defeat and turned around so that she was facing him, awaiting his actions.

Ziva didn't have to wait for long before Gibbs stepped into her personal space, effectively pinning her between the counter and himself. He stared at her for some time, searching her eyes for something she couldn't grasp while she bravely held his gaze.

After what seemed like an endless time to her, he raised his right hand and lightly slapped her.

"For letting him do that to you," he whispered in her ear, smirking to himself as he moved away from her. Not knowing what to say she kept standing rooted to the spot.

"You want some pancakes?" Gibbs asked, acting completely normal as he opened the fridge.

"Please," she quietly said, watching him closely as his back was turned to her.

"_Why is he not mad? Is he waiting for Tony to come down before kicking us out?"_

"Stop thinking," ordered Gibbs as he returned to the kitchen counter.

"See it as your 'Get out of jail free' card or in this case 'Get away with breaking the Rules' card," explained Gibbs, staring her down till she mutely nodded.

* * *

**(Ziva's Room – 6:57 am)**

When Tony woke up, he felt a chill run over him. Without having opened his eyes yet, he patted the spot next to him on the bed, wanting to pull Ziva close again.

But all he touched was air as he found the bed empty. Frowning he cracked an eye open.

"_No Ninja,"_ thought Tony lazily, rolling over onto his stomach he tried to fall back asleep.

Having found no sleep after several minutes Tony sighed and got up to shower.

As he later entered the lower floor, he found Ziva standing at the kitchen isle with a large knife in her hand, cutting some fruits for breakfast.

Knowing that he couldn't sneak up on his ninja anyway, especially when she had a dangerous weapon in hand and could easily kill him with it, he walked over to her, giving her his best smile as she looked up.

"Good Morning, Zeevah."

"Boker tov, Tonneey," teased the Israeli back, watching him out of the corner of her eye as he made his way around the isle.

"Missed ya," Tony whispered in her ear as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"You are awake early," observed Ziva, leaning back against his chest.

"Bed was too empty without you," he whispered, kissing her neck and nibbling on her ear alternately, eliciting a quiet moan from Ziva.

Before it could go any further, they were interrupted by a cough.

"Oh, hi Boss," greeted Tony cheerfully.

"DiNozzo."

Tony slowly let go of his 'prize' and went around the counter, taking a seat on the opposite from Ziva.

He grinned cheekily at her, but when she only gave him a fake smile in return, his mind went on overdrive. He looked inquiring at her. What he found made his already present frown deepen, before realization struck him.

"_Is it too late to run?" _wondered Tony briefly when Gibbs appeared behind him.

"You know what for," Gibbs gruffly growled as he slapped his agent, using quite a bit of force, which caused Tony to gasp.

"No one showers that long," the older agent explained as he set the freshly bought rolls on the table, before making his way over to the fridge once again.

"Busted," mouthed Tony, making Ziva smile.

"You regret it?" she mouthed back. Tony shortly grinned and shook his head vehemently, making both of them smirk.

* * *

**(Later that morning – Tony and Ziva are alone in the kitchen)**

"You think he's going to build that dog house now?" Tony asked warily.

"lo."

"Huh?"

"Io means no," explained Ziva absent minded as she leaned further back on her chair so that she could look from the kitchen over the lower floor of the house.

"Oh. I forgot. What are you looking for?"

"Gucci."

"Did he came back?"

"No," Ziva said crestfallen. At the same moment Gibbs came back.

"Cat food is gone every day. So he must come back once in a while," he pointed out, grabbing a water bottle and disappearing out of sight again.

* * *

**(Seconds later - Gibbs' garden)**

"Ziva!" called Gibbs. A few seconds later, she was standing beside him.

"Look at the neighbors porch," the gray-haired agent said.

"Boy found his girl," commented Tony, who had followed Ziva.

"Girls, DiNozzo. Mrs. Hadgins has three female cats," stated Gibbs, causing Tony to stare at him as if he was speaking a different language.

"Why don't you go over there, Ziver," suggested the team leader, "Mrs. Hadgins doesn't mind company."

The Israeli looked at him, considering the offer for a moment before she nodded, "I will be back soon."

Tony gave her a scared look as she left him alone with Gibbs.

"What is it, DiNozzo," questioned Gibbs, after his senior field agent had stared at him for some time.

"I hadn't planned on it to happen, boss," Tony quietly said, causing Gibbs to raise an eyebrow.

"Not like that anyway," stuttered Tony.

"DiNozzo," Gibbs called out, abruptly interrupting Tony.

"You screwed up, so you needed to make up," commented the gray-haired agent more quietly this time.

The younger agent just stared at him.

"I was married four times. Sex works better than flowers or chocolate," smirked Gibbs knowingly.

"Yeah..." trailed Tony off.

"Next time, find another place. Understood?"

"Yes, crystal clear." Tony nodded, his gaze on the neighbor estate where Ziva had picked Gucci up, cuddling him to her.

"We need to talk about Ziva's apartment," broke Gibbs through his agent's thoughts, his eyes equally fixed on their Israeli.

"You think that's a good idea, Boss?"

"Can't put it off forever, DiNozzo."

Together they made up a plan of action, till they were interrupted by the return of Ziva, who was holding Gucci in her arms.

"What were you talking about?" Ziva asked, having noticed the sudden silence upon her return.

"Your apartment," said Tony, watching her reaction.

"Oh," Ziva muttered as her eyes became distant again.

"Do you know what you want to do with it?" Gibbs softly asked.

"I do not want to go back there," admitted Ziva quietly, while stroking Gucci behind his ears.

"That's ok, no one will force you too," assured the gray-haired agent, "But we need to sort it out soon."

"Lots of work," mumbled Tony.

"Problem, DiNozzo?"

"Nope."

"Good."

"When do we start?" Ziva asked then.

"Vance gave us this week off, so we got the weekend left," commented Gibbs, causing the other two to nod in agreement.

"So, what are we doing first?" Tony questioned.

"Pick up everything Ziva wants to keep. Then we remove the broken stuff and take the wallpapers down," proposed the older agent as he looked at Ziva.

"Over the week we can let someone come to clean the floors and repaper the walls," mused Tony.

"Exactly."

"Today?" Ziva quietly asked.

"Would be the best," said Gibbs, standing up from his chair.

"Can we eat first?" Tony wondered which earned him two smacks to the head.

"Hey, no fair," he protested as he followed his laughing partner and smirking boss.

* * *

**(In front of a rental car – 12 am)**

"I'm sick," commented Tony as he staggered out of the car.

"Get the car and boxes and meet us at Ziva's apartment, DiNozzo," said Gibbs, ignoring his agents comments and hit the accelerator again.

"On it, Boss," said Tony, mumbling something like, "Thanks for your sympathy," as he went to get the car.

* * *

**(Ziva's apartment block – 12:37 am)**

Upon arriving at Ziva's apartment block, they swiftly made their way into the elevator.

As they left the elevator a short time later, the Israeli suddenly stopped. Gibbs who was walking right beside her till then, turned around and looked at her questioningly, his eyebrow raised.

"Gibbs, I don't have a key," Ziva remembered.

"I got it," the older agent gently told her as he took the key out of his jeans-pocket to show her, while his other hand came to rest on the small of her back, softly pushing her forward to her apartment door.

"You ready?" he asked her in a caring voice, his hand on the doorknob.

"Yes," she muttered, her eyes fixed on the door, blissful ignorant of Gibbs' gaze resting on her.

"Alright," the agent said, turning the knob and giving away the sight behind it.

Seeing the mess that was once her home, Ziva sighed.

"Come on, let's get started," Gibbs gave her hand a gentle squeeze and urged her forward.

* * *

Once inside, Ziva saw the whole extent of the chaos she created. In the meanwhile, Gibbs stood back and let her take in the situation, while he checked if he had missed any broken things.

"I will try to find a new apartment soon, yes?" Ziva finally said.

"Why?" asked Gibbs, looking up from his task.

"I do not want to burden you."

"You aren't, Ziver. I like having you at my house."

Seeing the sincerity in his eyes, she smiled.

"Let's pile the stuff and furniture you want to keep, before DiNozzo turns up with the boxes," he suggested.

"I do not see any furniture worth keeping. There is not any without a dent," she observed.

"Good, you will be spending most of your time with DiNozzo and later moving in with him anyway. Renting your own space would be a waste of money..." deadpanned the gray-haired agent.

"Gibbs!" shrieked Ziva laughing.

"I'm right, and you know it," smiled the agent.

"Maybe," she meekly acknowledged.

He then changed the topic back to the apartment, "Table looked pretty intact, last time I checked."

"Where should I put it?"

"You could store it at my garage for the moment."

"Okay," she agreed.

As she looked around, her eyes came to rest on another object, "My Piano."

"Thought so," smirked Gibbs.

"It took 4 movers to get it up here."

"DiNozzo and I will handle it."

"Want to keep any kitchen stuff?" Gibbs questioned, having taken out his notepad to make a list.

"No."

"Food?"

"No."

"Chairs?"

"No."

"Lamps?"

"No."

"Carpet."

"No."

"Wardrobe, dressers, coat rack?"

"No."

"Books,"

"No," she replied absent minded before she snapped out of her trance, "Yes!" she nearly screamed, giving him an evil look, _"Stupid question," _which made him grin broadly.

"Just checking if you know any other word than no," he smugly replied.

"Bed?"

"Yes."

"Which one?"

"Mine."

"DVD player, DVDs, CDs, Computer and other electronic knickknack?" _"Which noone needs," _Gibbs added in mind.

"Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes and Yes, Gibbs," Ziva smirked at him as he shrugged at her last answer.

_"It __was worth a try,"_ thought the agent.

"Pictures?"

"Yes, but some aren't meant for Tony's eyes."

"No problem, I'll take care of it," stated Gibbs, knowing fully well what kind of pictures might appear.

_"I wonder what kind of pictures she has of Ari,"_ pondered Gibbs.

"Curtains, bed sheets, other clothing?"

"Yes."

"Alright, adding your weapon arsenal we should have everything covered," grinned Gibbs smugly, causing her to roll her eyes in mock annoyance.

"What do we do with the rest?"

"I have organized a company to come over tomorrow and take care of everything else, don't worry. It will spare us work and energy."

Just then Tony appeared.

"Hey Boss, got the boxes," he greeted but was ignored by Gibbs.

The older agent only took some of the boxes from him and gave him a sheet of paper with the order to pack the things on the list, before he went to collect the pictures around the apartment.

Tony then looked more closely at the paper, _"'more electronic crap', typical Gibbs," _thought the senior field agent amused.

"You feel better, my little hairy butt?"

"Yeah, driving at a less suicidal speed helped a lot."

"I like Gibbs' driving."

"Of course you do," muttered Tony.

"What was that?" Ziva questioned, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Nothing," he quickly said before kissing her cheek. Only then did he notice what she was starting to collect and sort on her couch.

"Where did you get all those weapons from?"

"I bought them at several stores around the world," stated the Israeli as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

"You had them hidden here?" an astonished Tony questioned, his eyes scanning the apartment, "_Didn't see any of them on Monday."_

"Yes," she replied, knitting her eyebrows together again.

Tony seeing this expression, hurriedly changed the direction of their conversation, "I'll go pack your DVDs and other electronic crap," putting the word crap into quotation marks while saying it.

"Todah." smiled Ziva knowingly.

"You poor TV," said Tony under his breath as he knelt next to the broken TV and patted his fallen friend, "You were such a nice piece of multimedia, 55'' Flat screen, Dolby digital, Surround Sound, HD ready..."

"Tony!" Ziva interrupted him laughing, "It is gone, yes? Let it go," she said, patting Tony's cheek as she leaned down to his level.

* * *

A while later Tony and Ziva where in her bedroom, packing the last of her stuff.

"You going to take your bed too?"

"Yes."

"Why? The one at Gibbs' place is good," argued Tony, adding a bit quieter, "And I got a nice bed too."

"I'm NOT sleeping in your bed, Tony."

"Why?" A crestfallen Tony muttered.

"It is not like I do not want to sleep at your place. It is just that you may have stopped having another girl every few days, but you still took them home, yes?" Ziva said as stepped really close to him and cocked her head. Her eyes were sparkling with amusement as she watched his reactions.

"What do y.... Oh..." whispered Tony against Ziva's lips, just before she kissed him.

"How about we put yours in my spare room and buy a new bed for us then?" Tony suggested once they needed to drew apart cause of the lack of air. His hand came around Ziva's back hugging her more tightly to him.

Tony turned his head then, looking at her bed, "Maybe we could..."

Ziva put her index finger on his lips to shush him, turning his head to her in the progress, "Tony, Gibbs is here," giving him a pointed stare, "We should not play with fire, yes?"

"When you two are done playing grab ass, might as well help me disassemble the bed DiNozzo," interrupted Gibbs as he came back into the room with a toolkit.

"Aww, boss," whined Tony while Ziva slowly freed herself from his embrace.

* * *

It was already late that night when Gibbs and Tony returned home, having taken the rental back to the shop, after they had dropped Ziva and her stuff off at Gibbs' place.

When both men entered the living-room they saw Ziva sprawled out on the couch, fast asleep.

As Gibbs made a move to pick her up, Tony intervened, "Boss, I can carry her."

"After having pulled a muscle in your arm today? Don't think so," stated the older agent, gently lifting Ziva.

"_Stupid piano, why do they build them so heavy,"_ thought Tony as he followed Gibbs upstairs.

**TBC...**

* * *

**A/N:** Also I'm not happy with everything in this chapter, I hope you'll still like it.

* * *

**Small number of reviews (under 5) = makes Muse go on strike (again and again and again..)**

**Large number of reviews (above 5) = makes Muse very happy and write faster =)**


	12. Sunday and wet conditions

**Attention**: This chapter is NOT beta-read! All (silly) mistakes are mine... (I'll replace it with a corrected version when i got one...)  
I had this chapter finished 31st August.. but I was waiting for my Beta to show up.. Well as you can see I could have posted it then and there (lol)..  
I begin to think that I'm kinda cursed.. since all my Betas disappear at some point =/...

_**Anyone want to help me out with correcting?**_ (till 1 of my 3 missing Betas shows up.. or longer)

* * *

_**Previously:**_

_When both men entered the living-room they saw Ziva sprawled out on the couch, fast asleep._

_As Gibbs made a move to pick her up, Tony intervened, "Boss, I can carry her."_

"_After having pulled a muscle in your arm today? Don't think so," stated the older agent, gently lifting Ziva._

"_Stupid piano, why do they build them so heavy," thought Tony as he followed Gibbs upstairs._

* * *

**(The next morning)**

It was barely 6am and the sun was just rising as Ziva woke up, still held by her lover's arms. She lazily turned around and looked at her sleeping partner. He was still out like a light as she placed a soft kiss on his cheek before snuggling further into him. His arms momentarily tightening around her smaller frame.

Through the curtains the sun slowly started to creep into the room. The rays getting longer and brighter.

Ziva softly drew pattern on Tony's chest, twirling one or two of his chest hairs in the process. She then adjusted her position, carefully lifting the blanket off him as to not wake him yet, she went to straddle his hip.

Letting her eyes rest on his relaxed and peaceful features, she lightly chuckled at the thought of Tony not noticing her actions.

Ziva continued to watch him before she leaned down and placed small kisses first on his chest and then went higher, kissing his neck and lips in the process.

While she did so, Tony whispered her name subconsciously, till she accidentally touched his left arm, which looked swollen by now.

"Ouch," moaned Tony, who became awake with a start and Ziva stopped her ministrations.

"Does it hurt a lot?" The Israeli asked as she lightly stroke over his injured arm.

"No, just wasn't prepared, that's all," replied Tony as he pulled Ziva back down onto his stomach, fastening his arms around her so that she couldn't switch positions.

"Good morning Sweet cheeks," Tony kissed Ziva passionately.

"Boker tov, my little Hairy Butt. Maybe I can help you release some of your tension?" she suggested teasingly, mere centimeters away from his face.

"Hm... that depends on which tension you thinking, Sweet cheeks," replied Tony, lifting his hips as emphasis.

First looking confused, her expression took a teasing hint as he lifted his hips.

"The one that does not get you killed by Gibbs," Ziva teased him.

"Me? What about you?"

"Gibbs would not hurt me," replied Ziva in a mocking serious tone and laughed.

"Gibbs wouldn't hurt any of us," concluded her partner, smiling as he watched Ziva laugh.

"Yes."

"But he would be very disappointed with us," sighed Tony.

"Ken," the Israeli replied as she propped herself up a bit. Before wriggling out of his embrace and settling down next to him again.

Tony gave her a sad but curious look.

"Turn around," ordered Ziva. At seeing his confused expression she continued, "A massage will help you."

"I would love too, Sweet cheeks, but your hands are injured," he softly reminded her as he wrapped his arm around her anew.

Pausing, Ziva thought about his words before she let out a frustrated sigh, "The stitches will get removed tomorrow."

"Yes, also you won't be able to use your hand fully for another day or more, depending on how well the cuts have healed and how the stitches come out," added Tony, holding her close to him as he looked into her eyes, "There's also your other hand."

"Tony," sighed Ziva as his tale had frustrated her only more.

"mi dispiace," (I'm sorry,) stated Tony gently.

"Just don't tell Gibbs," he added as an afterthought, making Ziva laugh again.

"I love you, Ziva David," whispered Tony after they had both calmed down, kissing her softly on the lips.

"I love you too Tony," smiled Ziva, her head resting on his upper body.

"Don't know what I would do without you in my life," Tony then said, when he was sure that Ziva had fallen asleep again.

* * *

As the pair went outside some time later, Gibbs was giving them a pointed stare.

"Tony got an massage. He was tense, yes?" replied Ziva, the corner of her lips slightly upwards - smirking, which caused Gibbs to roll his eyes.

"_They'll be all over each other once they are at Tony's. I'll need Bourbon, a lot of it," _thought Gibbs, shuddering at the thought of his agents getting involved,_ "Or the redhead from earlier today. I might call her."_

* * *

**(Gibbs' Garden – Sunday - 2pm)**

After taking out some deck-chairs, all three occupants of the house found themselves lounging outside. While Tony was fast asleep, sunbathing, Gibbs and Ziva enjoyed the peaceful quietness and read.

"Gibbs, do you have a bucket somewhere around here?" the Israeli asked innocently.

"Gonna make DiNozzo wet?" questioned Gibbs, smirking.

"Just a bit?" replied Ziva in her best childlike voice.

"No bucket, but a water can. It's around the corner."

"Todah," smiled Ziva, taking off to fetch the can and fill it with water.

She then slowly sneaked up to Tony, who was still sunbathing, blissful unaware of Ziva's plan. Gibbs who had observed her actions, saw her struggle as she tried to lift the full water can above Tony.

"Let me help you," he whispered to his female agent.

Smiling gratefully at Gibbs, they both raised the can right above Tony's head.

"On 3," mouthed Gibbs and counted down.

'1'

'2'

'3'

**'Splash!'**

Tony instantly became awake, trying to splutter a coherent thought he checked his surroundings.

Gibbs, who had hastily retreated back to his seat after having chucked half of the water onto Tony, smirked at him.

"Got caught in the rain?"

Tony to stunned by the events to form a reply, finally looked in the other direction. Directly at Ziva, who still had the water can in hand and was laughing at him.

"Oh no, you didn't, Sweet cheeks," growled Tony jokingly as she just kept laughing at him.

"This is war," grinned Tony when he leaped out off his chair and caught Ziva around her waist.

"DiNozzo, she's injured," reminded Gibbs his agent, inwardly smiling as he thought, _"Can't let my partner in crime take the fall."_

Ziva smiled sweetly at Tony, "Maybe you should change your clothes, yes? Otherwise you may catch a fly."

"I think you mean bug, Zeevah," grinned Tony just before he gave her a small kiss and sighed as he made his way indoors.

"Todah, Gibbs."

"Wouldn't miss it, Ziver."

* * *

The rest of the day was uneventful, while Ziva and Tony spent most of it in front of Gibbs' TV, bickering and teasing each other, Gibbs had escaped to the safety of his basement and boat in the very beginning.

* * *

**(Gibbs' House - Monday – 5am)**

"DiNozzo!"

"Hmmmpff...."

"Get up!"

"Hmmmpff..."

Gibbs calculated his options. He had already pulled the blanket off his senior field agent, leaving his agent only with boxers against the cool morning air. But Tony still didn't made a move to acknowledge him or wake up for that matter.

"_If I would turn the mattress upside down, I would most likely damage some other furniture in the process. Also it wouldn't be an easy task," _mused Gibbs.

Just then the bathroom door opened.

"I would try water," smirked Ziva, already dressed for the day but still the cast protection on her arm, which Gibbs had placed there.

"Water, huh?" returned the older agent her smirk as he unfastened the protection cast.

Winking at him and giving him a kiss on the cheek as thanks for helping her with the cast, she disappeared out of the door.

"_Now to you, DiNozzo,"_ thought Gibbs inwardly as he went into the adjoining bathroom to wet a small towel.

As he came back, Gibbs carefully took aim and threw.

**'Splash²' **

"Woah," screamed Tony as he jumped out of bed in record time.

The towel having landed straight on his face, making him look like he had just showered.

"Glad that you have time to join us, DiNozzo," replied Gibbs sarcastically.

"Boss, was that really necessary?" whined Tony.

"Yes, get up! We leave in an hour and half."

With this Gibbs left his agent alone in the room. Tony meanwhile had looked at the clock.

"_'5:12' God, what's wrong with them? Work doesn't start for another 3 hours," _groaned Tony.

* * *

**(Bullpen – 7am)**

Shortly after having arrived at the Navy Yard, Ziva addressed Gibbs.

"Can I go down to Abby?"

"Sure."

Not two minutes later the last agent of their team arrived.

"Hey Tony. Morning Boss," greeted McGee as he made his way to his desk.

"Morning McFamily," joked Tony between bites of his breakfast burrito.

"Ha-ha, Tony," replied the agent as Tony just smiled at him.

"How was your weekend, DiNutso?" asked Tim, messing Tony's name up on purpose.

"Well, McNoisy, I got wet a lot," teased the agent back, grinning across their desks at his boss, who just rolled his eyes at his agents behavior.

"Ohkaaaayyy," said McGee while mentally recalling the weather in D.C..

"Where's Ziva?" he then wanted to know.

"Downstairs with Abby," munched the senior field agent.

"Oh, ok."

"Go McGee," animated their team leader.

"Thanks, Boss."

Tony wisely held his mouth shut. After his encounter with Gibbs this morning he had decided to stay on his boss' good side for today. He wanted to spent some time with Ziva outside off work after all.

* * *

**(Abby's Lab)**

When Ziva reached the level where Abby's lab was situated, she could already hear the usual music blasting loud through the lab.

"Abby?" Ziva asked as the bubbly scientist was nowhere to be seen.

"Ziva!" screamed an excited Abby in the Israeli's ear as she hugged her friend from behind.

"I've missed you!"

"We only saw each other a few days ago," said an confused Ziva, untangling herself from her friend's strong embrace.

"DAYS, that's too long for me! Normally I see you guys 6 or even 7 days a week!"

Ziva smiled at her friend.

"What have you guys done the last days? Nobody called me. I was wondering if you guys are still alive. I had serious withdrawal symptoms even though I was away with the nuns my cellphone would still have worked," scolded Abby.

"I promise to call you the next time I will be away for longer," assured Ziva, hoping that Abby had forgotten about her original question.

"So what did you guys did?"

"_No such luck," _mused Ziva.

"Hey Abs, hi Ziva," greeted McGee as he entered the lab.

"Timmy!"

"Abs, we talked yesterday night," reminded McGee as he tried to breath through Abby's bear hug.

"Yes, we talked," repeated Abby, looking in Ziva's direction as she said so, which got rewarded by an apologetically smile from Ziva, "But not in person, Timmy!"

"Well I'm here now. Could you hug me a bit more gently?"

"Oh!" exclaimed Abby, immediately letting go of him.

"Don't worry Abs," reassured McGee as he looked over to Ziva who seemed to want to make a run for it.

"Ziva," he addressed his friend, "Gibbs wants us back upstairs."

"What! No, you guys can't go yet!" whined the scientist.

"We'll be just a few floors up, Abs. You can always see and talk to us." reminded Tim their friend.

Once Ziva and McGee managed to make it out of Abby's lab and inside the elevator, McGee hit the switch. Ziva, who momentarily had spaced out, gave him a confused look.

"Abby was so fast, I didn't got a chance for a proper 'Hello'," explained McGee as he carefully hugged the Israeli, "I'm glad you decided to stay with us."

"Todah," replied Ziva a bit stunned by her friends reaction.

"What is on your mind? You seem rather distracted," started McGee.

"It was not an easy week."

"Yeah."

"Before you arrived Abby just asked me what Gibbs, Tony and I did the last days," Ziva began to tell him.

"Oh, so you hadn't a good time?"

"No. It was nice, just..."

"Just?"

"We cleaned out my apartment two days ago," she quietly said.

"I see."

"You do?" Ziva looked at him surprised.

"It must have been hard for you," concluded McGee while she nodded in agreement.

"Are you guys done with it?" he asked.

"Yes."

"You know Gibbs' rule #11?"

"I do not think so."

"Gibbs' rule 11: 'When the job is done, walk away.'"

"Something like let sleeping dogs lie?" Ziva summed up.

"Something like that," smiled McGee, not bothering to correct her.

"Todah, Tim."

"Anytime," he replied, hitting the switch again.

Just before the doors to the Bullpen opened, McGee added, "You know, if you need someone to talk too..."

"I know, McGee," interrupted Ziva smiling as they both returned to their desks.

* * *

Later that day Abby came running into the bullpen, straight to Ziva, hugging her gently but also strongly.

"Tony told me what you guys did this weekend," whispered Abby into her friend's ear, "I hope this will cheer you up," she said as she pointed to the wrapped gift she had placed on Ziva's desk.

There on the desk sat an familiar white carton with a red bow wrapped around it.

_"Chocoholics Choice Cupcake,"_ thought Ziva smiling.

* * *

**(Bullpen - 12am)**

"Gear up," ordered Gibbs as he took his weapon and badge out of his desk drawer. As he looked around he also noticed Ziva doing the same.

"Not you," he sternly told her.

"Gibbs..."

"No. You stay put," he said more quietly this time as he came to a stop in front of her desk, looking her in the eyes as he said so.

Defeated, Ziva sighed as she sat down and watched how the gray-haired agent disappeared inside of the elevator, joining Tony and McGee.

Thirteen seconds later her cellphone rang.

"David."

"I'll come by shortly before two thirty to pick you up for your appointment," Gibbs told her and hung up before she could answer him.

**TBC....**

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**A/N: I got a question for you. Do you guys want long chapters (which means I most likely won't update so often) or would you like me to update every 4-6days (with around 1,000 words a chapter?)

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**

**Please review =)**

(Next chapter is already finished. Review and I'll update very soon.)


	13. Don't chase the innocent

**Attention: Still not corrected by a Beta. (help me?)**

* * *

_**Previously:**_

"_No. You stay put," he said more quietly this time as he came to a stop in front of her desk, looking her in the eyes as he said so._

_Defeated, Ziva sighed as she sat down and watched how the gray-haired agent disappeared inside of the elevator, joining Tony and McGee._

_Thirteen seconds later her cellphone rang._

"_David."_

"_I'll come by shortly before two thirty to pick you up for your appointment," Gibbs told her, and hung up again before she could answer him._

* * *

As promised Gibbs interrupted his work and drove Ziva towards the hospital.

"Yeah, Gibbs," answered the agent his cellphone.

'...'

"Damn, alright. I'll be there in 30," he cursed, hanging up.

Curious, Ziva stared at him.

"That was McGee, they found another body."

"Where?"

"Spring Valley."

"You should have taken the other turn to get there," she commented as the agent turned into another street.

"Not yet," an amused Gibbs replied, "First I'll bring you to your appointment."

"Gibbs! You need everyone with two crime scenes," protested the Israeli.

"No chance, Ziver. You're still on desk duty for the time being," smirked Gibbs as he looked over to his passenger.

Frustrated she turned her gaze from him and watched the buildings pass by, mumbling a few curses under her breath, which Gibbs thought must be Hebrew.

* * *

With the promise to return and get her in an hour Gibbs let Ziva out at the entrance of Bethesda.

There she waited for nearly forty five minutes till the nurse finally called her on, telling her to wait in examination room eight. Irritated and bored Ziva lied down on the examination couch and counted the ceiling panels.

Another five minutes went by until the doctor from the last time, arrived.

"Hello, Miss David," greeted the smiling doctor.

"Hello," sighed Ziva, sitting upright again.

"I'm sorry that you had to wait so long. It has been a busy morning in the ER."

"I understand."

"Alright, let's get started," said the attending physician cheerfully as he took her left hand and gently placed it on a nearby tray.

"Are your eating and drinking habits back to normal? Any problems? Pain?"

"Yes, no and no," huffed Ziva, wanting to get this over with as fast as possible.

"Good. Well it looks like you're lucky. The cuts have healed nicely and I can remove the stitches," smiled the doctor brightly at her.

"Fine," she commented absent minded.

**(Eleven minutes later)**

"There you go," he told her after having removed the stitches, "Please make a fist and hold it," he ordered.

Ziva rolled her eyes but did as told anyway.

"Good," mumbled the doctor, "It's only a bit bleeding from removing the eschar around the stitches. No new deep cuts visible though," he commented, satisfied with his work.

"You finished?" Ziva asked as she wanted to get away from the all too cheery physician.

"Yes, I'm done," he replied, however as his patient jumped of the table he stopped her, "BUT let's do another X-ray on your other hand to see if it's healing correctly."

The Israeli had trouble to suppress a growl when a nurse came in and lead her over to the X-ray section.

* * *

Another one and a half hour went by till the X-ray could be taken. Other cases of emergency taken precedence over her checkup.

Huffy and feeling very disgruntled, she needed to resist the urge to throw her knife at the opposite wall of the waiting room - numerous times.

Even thoughts about quietly leaving had crossed her mind, but they were swiftly squashed by her imagination of an angry Gibbs, who first would give her a lecture and then drag her back to wait, where she would be the last in line again.

So far only one other patient was in front of her. A small boy, who had fallen from a tree and had a temporary cast on his arm after the doctors had set it.

When he and his mother came into the room after her, she couldn't stop herself to let them go first. The boy's tear-strained face waking something in the otherwise hard shell exterior of the former Mossad Officer.

Bored to death, Ziva blanked the noises around her out.

Her current situation made her think of her past life style. In Mossad they had just set the bone and bandaged it. No though spent on if it was 'healing correctly' as her doctor had said.

"Miss David?" a small woman yanked her out of her thoughts, "Let's take a look at your wrist."

* * *

Finally done with everything, Ziva hurried to the exit. She didn't really expected to find Gibbs outside of the ER. Also the coffee cup in his hand was a very familiar sight.

Ziva gave him a tired smile, "Can we go now, please?"

Gibbs softly chuckled as he made a 'go on' motion towards the car.

"Took ya time, David," he couldn't help but to comment, receiving a low growl from his agent.

* * *

**(Back in the Bullpen – 5:58 pm)**

"Hey Zeevah," smiled Tony, who stood in front of Gibbs' desk.

"Your tale was right," she sighed as she neared his position.

"Aww, so that means I can spoil you longer," he teased lovingly, their faces only millimeters apart now.

"Don't you two got work to do?" Gibbs smugly asked behind them, making them jump apart and run to their desks.

"DiNozzo, McGee, update Ziva," he ordered. "I'll be back."

"_Coffee,"_ all three agents thought as they met between McGee's and Tony's desk.

"PO Third Class Lyndsay Tonek, found at Palisades Kent," Tony started his report, calling the crime scene photos and personal file of the first victim onto the screen.

"Ducky estimated her death around 3 am this morning," McGee chirped in.

"Death by multiple stab wounds," inquired Ziva as she cocked her head to look at the crime photos in different angles.

"Yes and no, there's a single gunshot wound, right through her heart," the senior agent pointed at the wound, "Ducky confirmed it as cause of death."

"The stab wounds were done after she was already dead," said McGee.

"Why would someone stab their victim after it is already dead?"

"That's what we need to figure out, Zeevah."

"Oh really, Toneey," Ziva teased back, rolling her eyes at him.

"Maybe the murderer wanted to hide the gunshot?"

"Yea right Probie, as if the person who did this wouldn't know that an autopsy would be done," said the senior agent sarcastically.

"You got a better idea?" shot Tim back.

"I..."

"Stop it," exclaimed Ziva, flashbacks of the crowded and noisy ER making her head spin.

"Do we have any hints yet?" she huffed.

"Not much, yet. Abby is checking the evidence of both scenes. Could take a while," Tony reported calmer now.

"All we know is that the second crime scene looked like the first. Victim was stabbed after death. Course of death: single gunshot wound right through the heart," continued McGee, "Name is Brenda Conners, Petty Officer Third Class also."

"More to be found out," stated Tony in a deep voice, mimicking some actor as he turned around, going back to work. The others followed his lead.

* * *

**(Tuesday - Bullpen - 00:56 am)**

"DiNozzo," Gibbs broke the silence.

"Yes, boss?"

"Take Ziva home," he said, not looking up from his work.

"Gibbs!"

"DiNozzo," the team leader said anew as he ignored Ziva's protest.

"I am not leaving while you work," stated the Israeli.

She had stood up and was now towering in front of Gibbs' desk. Her back straight and her eyes shooting daggers at her boss, silently daring him to order her otherwise again.

"Don't take your sore mood out on me or any furniture here. No death treats to anyone and no knife throwing at anyone or anything, just because your aching all over. Got it?"

The corner of his mouth were turned upwards, smirking, as she glared at him but nodded anyways and went back to work.

McGee and Tony throw each other a wary look. Their boss had made sure that she wouldn't snap at him, but what about their safety?

**(5 hours later)**

Gibbs woke around 6 am that morning, due to the foul weather it was still very dark outside.

Sometime during the night he had fallen asleep on his desk. So he hadn't noticed that his team had spent the night in the office too.

As he now looked around the dim lit bullpen, he saw McGee with his head resting on his keyboard, a pen still held in his hand.

Gibbs smirked to himself and then turned to look at the other desks, finding them empty.

"They better went home to sleep. Only," Gibbs growled inwardly as he crossed the dark room. His goal the next Starbucks.

When he came back a few minutes later, dawn had lit the bullpen noticeably.

Now able to finally see better, Gibbs risked a glance behind Ziva's desk as he put a coffee for her on it. Instead of their Israeli he found only her abandoned jacket on the floor.

Confused he looked in the direction of the bathrooms, "So she was here all night, too. But where is she now? Might have taken a break while I was gone," he mused.

However as he then placed another cup of coffee on his senior field agent's desk, he was rewarded with a surprise. The team leader contemplated the situation for a moment, before he decided to ignore it and to give McGee his coffee.

"Hm.. W—What? Boss?" confused and roused by the smell of the coffee in front of him, McGee jerked awake.

"Drink it."

"Oh... sure Boss," answered the still confused agent.

"Where are Tony and Ziva?"

Gibbs didn't answered but nodded towards the senior field agent's desk.

McGee's eyes widened at the sight he saw there.

"Bo-Boss, shouldn't you … wake them up or something?" stuttered Tim.

"Me?" smirked his boss, sipping on his coffee cup.

"Uhm. .."

"Let them sleep, Tim. They'll wake up soon enough," Gibbs answered unimpressed at the sight of his two team members cuddled up to each other.

McGee stared first at his boss who had returned to his paperwork and then at his two friends.

While Tony was lying flat on his back, with only his head pillowed by a couple of old shirts, Ziva was snuggled half on top of him. Her head rested on his chest, safely tugged under his chin, while her hand lay next to it, gripping his shirt with minor force.

One of Tony's hand was placed on her neck, he had obviously combed through Ziva's hair when they fell asleep as some strands of it where still between his fingers.

The senior agent's jacket providing them with a blanket, which Tony held firmly in place as he had his arm draped over it, hugging Ziva close to him in the process.

* * *

**(Wednesday)**

While Tuesday was fairly uneventful, the next day proved to be more challenging for the whole team. Also they had made no real process with their current case, though they were chasing every lead, they found themselves in the office for over 60 hours now.

Sixty very stressful hours.

"Ziva!" exclaimed the senior agent as he backed up against one of the office divider.

"Give it back." The Israeli darkly stated but very calm.

"I don't have it."

"You do," came the still calm answer.

"No," protested Tony, watching his partner's every move.

"Tony..." she all but growled as she took another step into his direction.

"Yes, Sweet cheeks?" he tried to joke in order to lift her sour mood.

"Now..." she ordered, swiftly covering the last few steps to him and capturing one of his hands, which he had held up in a peaceful gesture.

"I swear, I didn't take it," squeaked Tony when Ziva put some pressure onto the back of his hand.

"Then where did it go?" she hissed angrily.

"I don't know," whined Tony - now on his knees.

Ziva kept silently staring down at him, albeit enforcing her grip on him.

"Look, let's stop this. I'll get you a new one," Tony offered soothingly, hoping to be free soon.

As Ziva considered her partner's offer, Gibbs came to stand next to the pair. Silently sipping his coffee.

"You know," Gibbs said calmly, as his two agents looked at each other, "We still need Tony, Ziver."

Hearing the underlying order in her boss' comment, Ziva sighed and released her partner, who promptly fell on his buttocks.

"And McGee has taken your Berry Mango Madness," the gray-haired agent then whispered into her ear.

"McGee!?"  
"The Probie stole something again?"

Came it simultaneous from Ziva and Tony.

"Yes," confirmed Gibbs smugly, helping his agent up from the floor, "Come on, DiNozzo. We got a murdered to catch."

Ziva meanwhile had disappeared to find the one person who dared to steal her favorite drink from her...

**(Later the same day)**

"Ziva, go home!"

"But Gibbs!"

"NO! You've done enough for today. Go HOME!"

Ziva sighed before she quietly replied, "Yes, Gibbs."

As she was near the elevator, Gibbs turned to his senior agent.

"You go and make sure she's alright," he said in a low voice.

He knew that sending her away seemed to be too harsh and unfair in her eyes but he needed everyone to be at the top of their game. It was clear to him that she needed to calm down and collect herself after what had happened earlier with McGee.

**TBC...**

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**A/N**:

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**?! Review !?**

**(the ? is just decoration...)  
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_If Updates take too long and you want to know what's going on, read my profile. I always got an overview about the story progress there. (which I update regularly.)_

Next chapter will be up soon... (maybe.. depending on reviews =P)


	14. Friday Night

**Attention: Still not corrected by a Beta. (help me³**?)

_**Rule for chapter uploads: 'No new chapters if the review count for the previous chapter is under 4/5.'**_

**

* * *

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_**Previously:**_

"_Ziva, go home!"_

"_But Gibbs!"_

"_NO! You've done enough for today. Go HOME!"_

_Ziva sighed before she quietly replied, "Yes, Gibbs."_

_As she was near the elevator, Gibbs turned to his senior agent._

"_You go and make sure she's alright," he said in a low voice._

_He knew that sending her away seemed to be too harsh and unfair in her eyes but he needed everyone to be at the top of their game. It was clear to him that she needed to calm down and collect herself after what had happened earlier with McGee._

* * *

**(Later Autopsy)**

"Hey Duck."

"Oh. Hello, Jethro."

"We're just about to finish," the older M.E. replied as he placed one last patch onto McGee's wound.

"There you go, my dear boy. Next time be more careful," he scolded the young agent.

"Of course, Ducky. Thank you," McGee replied as he slowly slid off the table.

"McGee," Gibbs motioned his agent to him, "I don't want a next time. Otherwise I may need to reconsider my selection of a team."

"Got it, Boss," gulped his agent, "I won't do it ever again."

"You better not," replied Gibbs before he reached out to slap the backside of McGee's head.

"Jethro," Ducky berated, "Be careful he has a nasty wound on his head."

"Don't worry Duck," smirked Gibbs, knowing fully how much force he could use with this kind of injury in the way.

"Go home, McGee," the gray haired agent then ordered, "I already sent the others home."

Tim nodded and made his way towards the doors.

"McGee!"

"Yes, Boss?"

"Don't forget to make up for what you've done," Gibbs said smugly.

"Yes, Boss. I won't forget it," sighed his agent as he disappeared through the doors of Autopsy.

* * *

**(Gibbs' House – Wednesday – 4 pm)**

"Come on, say something to me my crazy ninja," Tony tried to coax his partner into talking.

However Ziva only spared him a side glance and continued to pace around the living room.

"Come here, sweet cheeks," probed Tony, gently pulling on Ziva's arm as she passed the couch.

"Not now, Tony!"

"Ziva."

"I want to be alone, please," she quietly uttered, looking him directly into his eyes before she turned and headed up to her room.

"Alright," sighed the agent dejected.

* * *

**(Gibbs' House – Wednesday – 8 pm)**

When Gibbs entered his house he was immediately greeted by Ziva.

"Gibbs!"

"Yes?"

"I really didn't meant to hurt him," she quietly said.

"I know, Ziver," sighed Gibbs. He had hoped that the time away from work would have helped her settle her agitated mind but obviously it hadn't.

"I..."

"Ziva!" Gibbs harshly interrupted her. "McGee is okay. And so are you."

Upon still seeing the semi-familiar troubled expression in her eyes, he continued more gently, "You both made a mistake. It's done now. And everyone needs to move on."

As she finally nodded and after he had searched her eyes for any hidden doubt, Gibbs lightly squeezed her hand, before making his way to the kitchen.

* * *

**(Thursday – Bullpen – 11 am)**

Tony constantly kept looking at the desk beside his. Another chuckle was heard.

"Would you stop this, Tony?" An annoyed McGee asked.

"Can't do, McThief," replied Tony smirking, "You look like you were run over by a truck."

"More like run over by an sleep deprived and very upset woman, who happens to be a trained assassin and got robbed of her sweets," Gibbs commented smugly from his desk.

"Yeah McProbie Wan, what's up with you? No one messes with Ziva. Or Abby. Or any other woman when it comes to their favorite stuff," teased Tony further.

"Alright, alright. I got it. Thank you," grumbled McGee.

At this moment Ziva approached from the back elevator.

"Todah, McGee," she greeted as she went past his desk, a Berry Mango Madness shake firmly clutched into her hand.

Gibbs and Tony couldn't help but to smirk/smile wider as they saw a relieved expression cross McGee's battered face.

Also some people might would think that Ziva was the reason for McGee's bruised jaw, the cut on his forehead and the bluish turning cheek, the team knew better.

Ziva wasn't entirely at fault. The younger agent had just fallen down the stairs as he tried to make a run from their Israeli, to the amusement of everyone – after they knew he wasn't really hurt. **

* * *

**

**(Thursday / Friday Night)**

"Ziva?"

Tony groggily switched on the light on the nightstand. A huge storm raged outside. The clap of thunder shaking the house every so slightly as the world around them cried.

"Where are you my ninja?" mused Tony sleepily as he couldn't find her within the room or the adjoining bathroom.

He picked up his discarded shirt from the floor before he pulled the door open, trying to make as little noise as possible.

"Ziva?" whispered Tony as he crept downstairs.

He squinted his eyes together as he adjusted to the dim light. The streetlamps the only things which enlighten the lower floor.

There he saw her, sitting in an armchair, which stood next to the window of the living room.

"Sweet cheeks?" he carefully asked, not wanting to startle her. As she didn't made a move to acknowledge him he walked over to his girlfriend.

"You okay?" he quietly inquired.

"lo," breathed Ziva.

"Is it the thunder?" Tony ever so gently tucked a stray strand of hair back behind her ear. His hand tracing along her cheekbone. She leaned her head against his hand as he cupped her face, his thumb stroking her cheek in a loving manner.

"Not alone," sighed Ziva, closing her eyes briefly at Tony's gently touch.

"So?" He asked quietly. The agent gently lifted her up and sat down on the armchair himself, with Ziva in his lap.

"I like the rain," she whispered, tracing the raindrops on the window, "The thunder makes me remember of some unpleasant things though," she admitted.

Tony's arms tighten around her slender form. It didn't took long for her head to come to rest comfortably on his chest. Soothed by the rhythmic beating of Tony's heart and his arms around her, she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

**(Gibbs' House – Friday – 5:30 am)**

"Where ya going boss?" Tony asked from his position on the armchair. Ziva was still cuddled up to him, sleeping.

"Running."

"Can I join you?" he uncertainly asked.

"If you think you can keep up."

"Sure."

"I'll be off in 5 minutes."

"Gotcha," replied Tony as he gently moved Ziva to the couch and headed upstairs.

"DiNozzo," growled Gibbs as his agent came back.

"Boss?"

"Do you always leave your girlfriends exposed to the cool room when they're only clad in shorts and tank?" Gibbs asked as he leaned on the back of the couch, facing his agent, who's eyes suddenly widened.

"I,.." started Tony.

"Let's go." Gibbs ordered, making his way to the door.

Confused at his boss suddenly careless behavior at Ziva's welfare, he hurried to where he had placed his partner. Only to spin around, searching the room for a split second, before his eyes finally settled on the second and bigger couch. There he found his lover, still peacefully sleeping, a blanket safely tugged around her.

"_Gibbs,"_ Tony immediately thought.

The agent knelt next to the couch. He lightly stroked Ziva's hair out of her face before he softly kissed her forehead. Giving her one final kiss on the lips, Tony ran after his boss.

* * *

**(After 6 miles of running)**

"Boss," gasped Tony, "Please, .. could.. we... stop for.. a minute."

"Sure," smirked Gibbs.

"I guess... I need to.. train more," explained Tony as he bent over, trying to catch his breath.

"Don't stop walking, DiNozzo," Gibbs told him as he pulled his agent a few steps forward, "You need to keep moving."

"Right," breathed Tony.

"You did good, Tony."

"We didn't ran a large distance." A mystified Tony inquired.

"At a pace which revels the one of chasing suspects."

"Oh," Tony said baffled, "Did we really run that fast?"

Gibbs just nodded as he focused on the Starbucks shop across the park.

"Coffee," grinned Tony mentally, following his boss. …

* * *

**(Park bench a few minutes later)**

"Do you know where we are?" Gibbs asked his agent after they had shared a comfortable silence, filled with them sipping on their coffees.

Confused Tony looked up from his cup, "We ran a circle, so we should be close to your house."

"Didn't lost your surroundings out of sight. Good," praised Gibbs.

"Are you testing me?"

"No, just making you see that you've grown a lot in the last years."

"You aren't retiring again, are you?"

"Maybe not grown enough," replied Gibbs as he smacked Tony upside the head.

"Thanks boss," grinned the younger agent.

"Anytime, DiNozzo. Anytime." smirked Gibbs smugly as he drained the last of his coffee.

* * *

**(Gibbs' House – Kitchen - 7 am)**

"Broker tov," Ziva greeted the men smiling, as they arrived back from their run.

"Morning Ziver," smiled Gibbs at her, handing her a Berry Mango Madness before going for a shower.

"Buongiorno Zeevah, amore mia vita," (Good morning Zeevah, love of my life) said Tony, while his arms came around her waist and their lips touched briefly.

"Tony," sighed Ziva, kissing him more passionately.

"Hm? ..." he replied as he nuzzled her neck.

"You need a shower," stated his lover in a matter of fact tone.

"Hm... I know Sweet cheeks," he replied, still showering her neck and now also ear and sometimes lips with small soft kisses.

"Now, Tony!" demanded Ziva as she entangled herself out of his arms and lightly shoved him away from her.

"Aww, no fair," whined the agent playfully.

"Shower, or I'll stay here tonight," the Israeli sternly told him.

"Alright, alright. I'm gone," smirked Tony knowingly.

While her tone had left no room for further argument, her eyes had clearly betrayed her.

"_Tonight,"_ Ziva and Tony sighed inwardly.

* * *

As it turned out, the team had managed to crack their current case around midday. The killer turning himself in, crying all over the place that he was sorry and everything was an accident. It came that Gibbs dismissed them earlier than usual.

"Hey Sweet cheeks," called Tony across the bullpen as McGee and Gibbs had left.

"Yes?" "I'll need to do something before tonight. I'll pick you up around 7?"

"Ken," she replied, having walked over to him and kissing his cheek.

"Ahem."

"Boss..." Tony started.

But Gibbs turned away from his senior agent, "Ziver?"

"Yes?" she answered sweetly.

"Did I saw something?"

"No."

"Good." Gibbs replied, the corner of his lips slightly switching in amusement.

"Can I drive with you? Tony has somewhere else to go."

"Of course," agreed Gibbs, raising his eyebrow at his senior field agent.

"Remember when we told you we would try dating to make this a bit more like a normal relationship?" Tony asked his boss uncertainly.

"I'm old but not senile, Tony."

The older agent looked more than smug now while Ziva tried to restrain her laughter.

* * *

**(Gibbs' House – 5 minutes before 7 pm)**

After having tried out four different dresses and redoing her hair twice, Ziva was finally satisfied with her appearance. She looked at the clock on the wall.

"Still four minutes left, I should say bye to Gibbs," she mumbled to herself.

Normally she wouldn't dress up like this, but it was a special night for her AND Tony. They were going to a new, expensive restaurant, maybe getting one or two drinks afterward. While neither of them planned to go any further than enjoying the evening, Ziva's heart was still beating like she had run nonstop for hours.

The Israeli slowly descended the stairs to the basement. Being careful not to trip over the brim of her long dress, which was made of satin and held in a deep purple color. Simple diamonds adorned the thin straps and the slightly v like cleavage portion, putting special emphasis on it.

While the dress hugged her upper body perfectly, the dress flowed freely around her slim frame. A split up on the left side reveled her tanned thigh.

The silver high heels on her feet made her legs seem all the longer, adding to her already exotic appearance. Her long and curly hair cascaded freely around her shoulders and framed her face as a pair of diamond earrings and a light makeup, completed her look.

"You look beautiful," stated Gibbs, looking kindly at his agent.

"Thank you," smiled Ziva, just as the doorbell run.

"We will be back before midnight," she promised as she hurried upstairs again.

"I wouldn't count on it, Kid," sighed Gibbs. He then proceeded to empty a glass of nails out, before filling it with bourbon and downing it at once.

**TBC...**

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**A/N: poor Gibbs *****g*

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**

Sry guys, but it's kinda upsetting to see A LOT of alerts for 'Fav. Story' or 'Story Alert', but only 1-3 reviews (not that I'm not happy about those alerts, they keep me going!), anyway I came up with something: **  
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_**Rule for chapter uploads: 'No new chapters if the review count for the previous chapter is under 5 reviews.'**_

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	15. Friday Night II

_**Attention: Still not corrected by a Beta. (...?)**_

* * *

_**Rule for chapter uploads: 'No new chapters if the review count for the previous chapter is under 5.'**_

* * *

_**Previously:**_

"_You look beautiful," stated Gibbs, looking kindly at his agent._

"_Thank you," smiled Ziva, just as the doorbell run._

"_We will be back before midnight," she promised as she hurried upstairs again._

"_I wouldn't count on it, Kid," sighed Gibbs. He then proceeded to empty a glass of nails out, before filling it with bourbon and downing it at once._

* * *

**(Outside)**

As Ziva opened the door, the first thing she saw was a bunch of red roses. Behind them she noticed Tony, who looked nervously at Gibb's front lawn, before his head suddenly snapped around and he looked straight at her.

His expression turned from nervous to completely stunned as he took in her appearance.

"Hey there," smiled Tony after he had found his voice again, "I know it's cheesy but I thought..."

"They are beautiful. Todah, Tony," she reassured her lover as she took the flowers out of his hand and kissed him softly on his lips.

"I will put these into water and be back soon, yes," Ziva gave him a dazzling smile and headed back into the house.

"He looks really handsome in this suit," murmured Ziva while thoughts about canceling their dinner reservation crossed her mind. After all they could spent their time doing something different, more exercising.

Outside Tony had similar thoughts, _"Why can't we skip dinner. She looks stunning - that dress - she'll be my death." _

_"Damn, DiNozzo. Get a grip!"_ he scolded himself, _"She's special, you can't ruin it, buddy."_

The Israeli choose this moment to reappear and jolt him out of his musings.

"Ma'am," Tony offered his arm to Ziva as she stepped out again.

She momentarily glared at him.

"Oops," grinned Tony. "Miss David," he corrected himself.

"Better," smirked Ziva and let herself be led to his car.

* * *

**(In front of the restaurant)**

Ziva was about to leave the car, when Tony held her back.

"Wait," he half shouted, which was answered by a frown from his partner.

"I just,..." started Tony, "I just wanted to tell you how beautiful you look tonight," he quietly told her.

"You look really good yourself, Tony," she answered as she placed a hand on his cheek before her hand wormed around his neck and she pulled him even closer. The kiss that followed was very passionately but also gently. In the end they both came up breathlessly.

"Wow," smirked Tony, leaning his forehead against Ziva's.

"Maybe we should skip," he was about to suggest when Ziva put a finger on his lips, lightly shaking her head.

"Let's go and eat, my little Hairy Butt" she softly whispered against his lips, kissing him one last time before she left the car, leaving Tony behind, momentarily stunned.

* * *

**(After dinner - At Tony's apartment)**

Upon arriving at Tony's, he vanished into his bedroom to change out of his ruined clothes, since their waitress had spilled half of their ordered wine bottle onto him.

"Tony, what movie will we watch?" Ziva asked loudly.

"There's a black DVD in the 3rd shelf from the bottom, right side of the case."

Ziva looked at his collection.

"He has as much movies as I have books," she laughed lightly.

"What's so funny Sweet cheeks?" Tony inquired as he reappeared, clad in a pair of faded blue jeans and a white polo-shirt.

"Your number of movies."

"Ah, ok," he raised an eyebrow at her, "You feel up for another glass of wine?"

"Yes," she smiled at him.

Ziva then looked quizzically at the DVD case. There wasn't any black DVD on the certain spot he mentioned. But she found a few black DVD's on the very bottom of the case. She shrugged to herself and aimlessly picked a DVD from those out.

As Tony was still clattering around in the kitchen, she sneaked into his bedroom herself.

While the dress might have been a good thing to go out with and to render Tony speechless, she didn't thought it would be very comfortable to watch a movie in it.

It took her some time but in the end she managed to find one of Tony's silk boxer shorts and his favorite OSU t-shirt.

Ziva smiled to herself as she made her way back to the couch, imagining Tony's reaction at seeing her in his clothes.

A few minutes later Tony finally returned.

"I know those clothes from somewhere," he teased laughing.

"Hm.." replied Ziva, a small smile playing on her lips.

"Signora," he smiled benignly as he handed her a wine glass and settled next to her. Ziva immediately snuggled into his side.

"_My ninja certainly likes to snuggle a lot,"_ thought Tony as he put his arm around her and pressed play on the remote.

It only took him a few seconds to realize that this DVD certainly was NOT the DVD he had picked out earlier this evening.

"This isn't the film I picked out," he said wide-eyed.

"It is not?"

"No, where did you got this?" His heart was beating madly.

"_Oh god, she'll run away and never want to have anything to do with me,"_ feared Tony.

"Lower shelf," replied Ziva smugly as she cocked her head to the side, eyes glued on the TV.

"This is less pleasuring than they make the viewer believe," she replied absent minded.

"What?" stuttered Tony.

He had looked in panic for the remote which he had thrown somewhere once he had started the film, not noticing that Ziva wasn't disgusted or afraid of what she saw. Tony stared open mouthed at her.

"Somehow I forgot about our first meeting. I should have known that you would react like this."

"I have watched stuff like this before, Tony."

"Yeah..."

"I would have been surprised if you did not have some of those," she stated matter of factly.

"I don't know if I should be insulted or not," teased the agent, his lips playfully turned into a pout.

"Do not worry my little hairy butt," she lightly patted his cheek before she put her hand around his neck, pulling his face closer to her own, she softly nipped on his lips before kissing him.

"Let me get up and find the right DVD," groaned Tony, still flustered.

"Why? I find it quite entertaining," smirked the Israeli knowingly.

"Zeevah, I can't watch this with you without... you know..," he breathlessly told her as she lightly stroke over his chest, her head resting in the crock of his shoulder, watching the screen with interest.

"Who said you cannot," she momentarily looked at him, very amused.

As he screwed his eyes shut at her comment, she remembered something else.

"What are you doing?" A flustered Tony asked.

"Those are too big. It is uncomfortable, they slip off me," explained Ziva.

"You'll be me death," groaned Tony as he watched his lover slip out of his boxers and settle down next to him again. This time only with his T-shirt on and her slip.

"Ziva," murmured Tony into her ear, "I really wanted to watch only a movie with you, but now I want to show you how much you mean to me."

"I know," she smirked confidently at him and then produced to untangle herself from his embrace. She settled down on his lap, her knees on either side of him.

"You want to make love to me," she whispered teasingly against his ear.

Upon his silent nod, she produced to continue, "Good thing I want you to make love me too, yes?"

Tony slowly cupped her head in between his hands, "I wanted too since weeks," he brushed his lips against hers.

"Only since weeks?" Her eyes were twinkling in amusement. As they kissed his hands wandered from her shoulders down along her sides.

"If we continue it will be hard to stop," he breathed.

"Then do not," smirked Ziva.

Tony grinned rascally at her, "Bedroom."

In one swift movement he firmly grabbed her buttocks and stood up. Ziva shrieked at the sudden movement and wrapped her arms around his neck, while hooking her legs around his hips as she bit down into his shoulder.

"Crazy chick," he growled playfully as he placed her gently in the middle of the king size bed.

**TBC...**

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**A/N: **Sorry if someone wanted/expected a 'Dinner Scene', but I couldn't think about any good content for it. And I didn't want to bore you too much with a "They went – ate – talked – Scene".

I hope the Chapter was still T … It was kinda hard to draw the line between M and T content. ^^'

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_**Rule for chapter uploads: 'No new chapters if the review count for the previous chapter is under 5.'**_

_Thanks at those who reviewed the last chapter and chapter 13^^. Also it's strange that some reviews came within minutes (laughs.. I'll keep my thoughts about that to myself)._


	16. The End ?

_**Attention: Still not corrected by a Beta. **_

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_**Rule for chapter uploads: 'No new chapters if the review count for the previous chapter is under 4/5.'**_

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_**Previously**:_

_In one swift movement he firmly grabbed her buttocks and stood up. Ziva shrieked at the sudden movement and wrapped her arms around his neck, while hooking her legs around his hips as she bit down into his shoulder._

"_Crazy chick," he growled playfully as he placed her gently in the middle of the king size bed._

* * *

**(Tony's apartment – Saturday – 10 am)**

"Tony?" Ziva asked as she came out of the bathroom, "I think we should head back to Gibbs'."

"Can't we stay?" whined the agent, who was still lying in bed.

"We told him we would return later."

"Yes, and we didn't. I don't want to get a concussion, Sweet Cheeks," her lover teased.

"The longer we wait the angrier he becomes, yes?"

"He'll be angry anyway. Let's enjoy the time we have here." Tony replied, softly pulling on her hand and making her fall on top of him.

"Hey there," he cheekily greeted as he put his hand up to Ziva's face and traced his index finger along her cheekbone. She closed her eyes at this contact, sighing contently.

Tony then gently raised her chin and lowered his lips onto hers, kissing her lightly at first. As she opened her mouth at his subtle urging, he intensified the kiss. When he stuck his tongue in her mouth, she put her arms around his neck, dropping the towel she had around her body in the process.

"Tony, ..." murmured the Israeli against his lips.

* * *

**(Gibbs house – 5 pm)**

"Ziva!!"

The Israeli nearly fell backwards as she was enveloped in a bone crushing hug by her friend.

"Abs," Tony tried to pry his lover from the Goth.

"You!" Abby turned to Tony, pointing her finger to his chest as she straightened up to full height, "It's all your fault."

"Wh...what is my fault," he answered slightly appalled.

"That Ziva wasn't here!" exclaimed Abby and spun around, taking the Israeli by her wrist, leading her further into the house.

The agents threw each other a confused look.

"Abby?" Ziva finally asked when she and the scientist sat on Gibbs' couch.

"I wanted to go shopping with you. But you obviously had other things to do," answered her friend while she gave Tony a pointed glare.

The agent only grinned mischievously at the two woman. Abby momentarily narrowed her eyes at him before something clicked.

"OH MY GOD YOU.." she screamed but was stopped by Ziva, who had clamped her hand over Abby's mouth.

"Sshh," Ziva hissed, "Abby you cannot scream. Not here. Not in Gibbs' house."

Upon her friend's nod, the Israeli released her.

"I'm sorry, but this is so..." Abby searched for the right words without screaming, jumping or gesticulating widely, "Awesome!"

"Yeah," Tony agreed, smiling at Ziva all the way, "Also I don't know why you would feel so excited about it..."

"Cause I'm happy for you, Silly!" exclaimed Abby and punched Tony's arm as emphasis.

"Ouch! Be careful with those."

"Don't be such a girl, Tony," laughed Ziva before she turned to Abby, "I got the idiom right, yes?"

As Abby nodded, Tony couldn't help but mutter, "Of course you got THIS one right," which earned him a double stare.

"Boss downstairs?" The senior agent quickly changed the topic.

"No, he wasn't there when I came over."

Tony and Ziva exchanged another look. Maybe fate was with them and Gibbs wouldn't know that they only arrived a few minutes ago.

"And this was when, Abs?" Tony inquired.

"Around 9."

"And you waited here since 9 am?" Ziva easily saw that her friend was lying to them.

"Yes."

At this moment, Gibbs came through the front door.

"Hey Boss, where were you the whole day?"

Gibbs looked at Abby before answering, "I was here. And you, DiNozzo?" The gray-haired agent smirked as his agent lost all color.

"Rule 3, DiNozzo," Gibbs stated smugly, making his way downstairs.

"Rule 3: Don't believe what you're told. Double check. Of course. Should have known it," mumbled Tony under his breath.

His attention then turned to the person responsible for his misstep.

"Abs! Why did you lied to me?" Tony crankily demanded.

"Payback, Tony," she replied, kissing his cheek, "You crossed my day with Ziva."

"Abs," whined the agent, "Boss will kill us."

"No, he won't," reassured the Goth, before giving Ziva another hug and slipping out of the house.

Silence settled over the two lovers.

"What do we do now?"

"I do not know."

"Awkward."

"Yes."

* * *

The rest of the day passed uneventful. While Tony spent the time watching TV, Ziva had kept herself occupied with reading one of her books. At some point she ended up with her head laying on Tony's lap as the agent gently ran his fingers through her wavy hair.

Both agents were trying to avoid Gibbs, not knowing what to expect from their boss or how to act around him.

It wasn't a hard task, since the gray-haired agent kept to himself, working on his boat and only leaving the basement once for dinner...

_**(Flashback – Dinner)**_

Gibbs smirked - since he had entered the kitchen, his senior agent had been constantly looking at him. But every time he tried to catch Tony's eyes, he would hastily look away.

Ziva wasn't better. Though she tried to act normal, her movements were stiff and seemed to be forced.

"_They are acting like kids, who were caught doing something wrong," _thought Gibbs smugly.

"So, you two had a nice date?" He finally asked, causing Tony to choke on his food.

"Yes," Ziva replied calmly, having anticipated such a question since Gibbs had joined them.

"Good," was Gibbs' single answer.

Seeing his agents surprised faces, he laughed inwardly, "_This is going to be fun."_

_**(End - Flashback)**_

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**~ Fin ~**

_(or not?)_

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**A/N: Okay.. Pretty short chapter and I'm not entirely happy with the last part but maybe you like it anyway^^**

Decided that I'll end it here. But I got a sequel ready (if you want), cause 2 major plots are still waiting to be told.. (Update might take 3-7days.. I got a new job, yadda,yadda,..)

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_**Rule for chapter uploads: 'No new chapters if the review count for the previous chapter is under 5.'**_


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